Hippie chicks

Feeders: $7.75
Heat lamp and bulb: $12.90
Guinea pig cage: $54.99
Corn cob bedding: $7.49
Hatchlings: $12
Spending the next two months turning six adorable little balls of fluff into cold-blooded killers capable of annihilating slugs, grubs, caterpillars, and weed seeds, all while spreading manure, tilling it into the soil, and producing enough eggs to keep us in frittatas all summer: Priceless

Chickens deserve a whole lot more respect than they get. They might not have the dazzling feathers of a hyacinth macaw or the mellifluous voice of a canary, but they’re a heckuva lot cheaper, and their work ethic beats anything you’ll find in a pet store.

Incidentally, that one in the middle that’s lying flat on the floor isn’t dead. She’d just decided to get down and streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch her legs out.

We bought two Araucanas (the kind that lay blue-green eggs), a brown leghorn, a barred Rock, a buff Orpington, and a silver Wyandotte. The little black ones are the Araucanas. I lost track of which was which on the others, but they’re all cute. One of the Araucanas is extremely vocal. She has a high-pitched little peep and appears to have an opinion about everything. Funny little bird. The little yellow one seems to be the bravest of the bunch — she was the first to come up and eat out of my hand when I was putting some food on the floor of the cage to help them find their feeder.

Cute, cute, cute. I wish I could stay home and play with them all day, but my lunch hour is over, and I’m sure they’re ready for a nap (moving day is always SO exhausting, isn’t it?) … so I guess I’d better head back to the office and let my fuzzy little girls get back to their scratching and snuggling.

Emily