The Chicken or the

The other week my phone dinged and it was a notification from my Google photos, one of those "remember this day?" pictures.  It successfully brought tears brimming in my eyes.  It was the day that our first hens started laying after their winter break.  Man, I miss having chickens.  I mean, I REALLY miss it.  Solution? We should get chickens again! 

The first time we got laying hens as local egg farm was downsizing, they were gladly giving away hens gratis.  It was lucky and those ladies served us well until they got served up for coyote snacks. 

 This time around we're back inside city limits which means technically we should limit our flock to 5 hens. We'll see.  I have heard such magical things about Silkies.  The teddy bear of the chicken kingdom.  A great pet and layer and lawn ornament.  With advertising like that, how could I not want in?!  Problem is, I was finding it really hard to get Silkies economically.  Sure the hatchery websites say they're $3.77 but then add the small order fee and shipping and handling and you're looking at a pretty penny for just a couple birds! 

I decided to do it the long way this time and hatch out chicks at home.

I got an incubator from Amazon.com and bought some eggs from a small farm in Louisiana, a mix of Silkies, Easter Eggers, White Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds.  I'm not a huge fan of Rhode Island Reds, I find them pretty ornery, so I was glad when the egg box arrived and the seller had only sent one RIR egg. 

I ordered the eggs on a Friday and they arrived the following Thursday.  I was puttering around in the garage with the door open and the letter carrier called me over.  He had a mail tote labeled "Live Animals".  Cautiously, he lifted the lid and shielded his face. Then he peered inside, to see a Priority mail box covered in "Live Animals" stickers.  He handed it to me gingerly and told me he didn't want to put "them" in the package slot of our community mail box.  I thanked him and giggled as I went inside.  I let the eggs rest outside of their wrapping on the kitchen counter for six hours and then placed them inside the incubator set at a cozy 37.5 C.  
*side note: there is some really interesting stuff out there about incubation temperature and the effect on chicken sex.  REALLY INTERESTING!

While I wait the prerequisite 21 days for our little peepers to pip into existence I thought I should prepare their eventual home.  I perused Craigslist, nah,