Which came first?

We have recently become the proud owners of four beautiful chickens: Ramona, Flo, Lucy, and Effie. They are barely 6 weeks old and since I like to talk about them (a.lot.) I figured I'd bring you up to speed on our process of researching raising chickens up until now.

(My sister, The AZ Plant Lady, has blogged about our chickens and our little hobby farm, several times and you can read the posts here, here, here, and here.)

Just over a year ago, my husband and I bought a home with my mom on some horse property. It was a dream of ours to live on a small hobby farm and raise chickens, goats, grow crazy veggies and fruits - the whole nine yards. So, we took the plunge and decided to make it happen.

I spent the better part of the last year researching what it would take to be successful at raising chickens and I soon realized that it really wasn't that hard and that the benefits would be awesome...fresh eggs and some new pets for the boys and I to have fun with! Not to mention the chicken poop for the gardens.

My husband got to work building a super cool coop and I put together a super inexpensive brooder (chicks live in a brooder for the first few weeks to keep them warm.)

Once we felt we were fairly well prepared, we went ahead and ordered our chicks from My Pet Chicken. We chose to order a Buff Orpington, a Barred Plymouth Rock, and two Easter Eggers (mixed breed). They are all known for their fairly docile personality and ability to lay eggs well.

A couple of weeks after I placed the order for the chickens, I got a phone call from the Post Office that our chickens had arrived. Yes, our chickens came in the mail! It still blows my mind but they arrived cute, fluffy, safe and sound.

Chicks still receive nutrients from the yolk for the first couple of days so they can go without food and water until you receive them.

Since they've arrived, we've been having a ton of fun with them. They really are so easy and we are anxiously awaiting our fresh eggs which we anticipate having in another four months or so.

The only bummer is that they grow up super fast. They went from this:

to this in just 5 weeks!

Oh, and I almost forgot the best part of all. I finally had an excuse to buy some Wellies! If I have to scoop chicken poop, I must do it in style!