Randomness

The first shipment of our baby chicks arrived this morning. This is the group from McMurray; we're expecting our Cackle order in a day or two.

Last year our McMurray order was fulfilled perfectly and arrived in perky condition, so I wasn't quite prepared for this year's bunch. One (I think a Black Star or a Barred Rock) died in transit. Two (one each of our beloved Mille Fleur and Porcelain bantams) look really sickly and can't seem to stay standing. One Red Star has a crooked neck, and the s.o. says he thought he saw a chick with an eye problem, but I can't find it in all the kerfuffle.

I'm not sure they sent us the right Brahmas, although, to be honest, I'm having a heck of a time matching the catalog pictures to the chicks (I do know that we have the correct number of feather-footed beings in there). And to top it all off, instead of one bonus rare chick, we have eight extra yellow Easter chicks. None of the rare chicks look like that. I'm wondering if they are White Leghorns or Cornish crosses or something similarly industrial-strength.

Somebody's first day on the chick-packing line, maybe?

To be fair, they also noted on the page that they had added one free extra chick each of Dark Cornish, Dark Brahma, Light Brahma, and Black Langshan, which they appear to have done (subject to the Brahmas turning out to be what they are supposed to be). That's awesome--you all know how we love our Asian feather-footed chix around here.

Chaos reigns! Well, at least most of them look happy and healthy.


UPDATE:

The Porcelain has died. The Mille Fleur is still holding steady, although not able to get on its feet. :-(


FURTHER UPDATE:

Now the Mille Fleur has died as well, despite our efforts to save it. Yes, McMurray will replace them, but I'm still awfully sad to have lost them.

In other news, I noticed a smudged stamp on the invoice that says (I think) "RED STAR MALES HAVE BEEN ADDED FOR WARMTH." So that's what the yellow Easter chicks are. We had already bought Dark Cornish birds for meat, but I guess now we'll be having a lot more chicken dinners this year!