Ordering Baby Chicks

My husband and I talked about ordering chicks back before Spring had fully settled in while we were preparing our garden. We talked about it again when the weather was a little warmer, but knew our summer schedules were going to be hectic and we needed to make some repairs to the chicken coop before adding more hens. Repairs were made and summer blazed by. Occasionally I would thumb through my chicken catalog or browse a backyard chicken forum, but to me it felt like ordering chicks was always something I could do later. One day at the end of August I realized later had arrived, possibly even passed, when my husband asked if I had order the chicks yet. Not yet. I spent that evening researching the best breeds to get for warm weather, egg colors, sizes. I picked out my breeds and shopped around for the best place to order them only to find that they were sold out. I changed my breeds a few times until I found some that were available, loaded up my virtual shopping cart and found shipping charges were astronomical. Scrap that. Start again. This time I looked for the most economical deal I could find. Murray McMurray Hatchery offers a rainbow layer bargain; they send you 15 female chicks of at least 5 varieties that lay any colored egg for a great price (and the shipping is reasonable). The only catch is that you don't know what breed you are getting until they arrive (if you can figure it out, I'm still working on that part), because the chicks are at their discretion they still had plenty in stock for fall arrivals. I placed my order.

This post is part of 31 Days- a writing challenge and second in my baby chick series!