You may recall from a previous post (available here) that we lost all but one of our chickens to predation.  Unfortunately, this is an unavoidable consequence of allowing the chickens free run of the grounds during the day.  It is unacceptable for us to have only one chicken (she gets lonely), so we ordered a batch of chicks from the Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon, Missouri.

Bright and early Wednesday morning we received a call from our local postmaster to come to the post office and pick up the chicks.  It seems the peeping of the chicks annoys them down at the post office, so they like us to pick up the chicks right away.

Since the sole surviving hen is a buff-lace Polish chicken, we ordered a dozen more of this breed to keep her company (and to have a color-coordinated flock).  Retta also wanted to try her hand at raising a different breed this time around, so she also ordered a dozen German Spitzhauben chicks as well.  The Spitzhauben chick pictured below is quite attractive, wouldn’t you say?  We just hope that they remain as cute after they mature.