So tired.

I got to bed about 4:30 am last night. When baby is sick, mommy doesn't get to sleep. She seems fine now. I would pull my own eye teeth for a chance to go back to bed.

We received 15 chicks from Ideal Poultry today. I went to the post office to pick them up, and wasn't I the bell of the ball for a few minutes, despite wearing pajama pants and no make up and my hair pulled back into a greasy ponytail. No one saw me, they were all fixated on the chirping box in my arms.

I piked up 5 Ideal 236 pullets and 10 assorted pullets. Not knowing what they are is kind of exciting! Of those 10 assorted two of those are identical to the barred rocks I've hatched here, so I'm assuming more barred rocks, which I am happy about. I have no idea what the others are.

Chicks are more fun when they are colorful.

The reddish with black stripes on the right is a Rhode Island Red from my incubated eggs.

What's this? I have no idea.

The one in the back is the barred rock I hatched here. The one in front is from Ideal Poultry.

If anyone would like to guess please do! The Ideals are the lemon yellow ones. They are supposed to be ridiculously prolific layers. I'm looking forward to finding out for myself! The hatchery chicks are almost exactly the same size as the ones we hatched yesterday, so they are all in together.

So far I have 6 chicks out of my own eggs, I have two blacks and 4 strawberry blondes, which are barred rocks and rhode island reds, respectively. Of course it will be a few weeks before I know which are pullets and which are roos. One rock and one red each have unabsorbed yolk sacs which are worrying, despite being told not to worry. I was told they would be absorbed if I just left them alone, but it doesn't look like that is happening...instead they have turned from tight little balloons against their belly into long jelly ribbons. But supposedly there is nothing I can do but keep them safe and clean and wait. We'll see. The other eggs, well, no signs of life from them, but I'm giving them till Friday night. 6 out of 48 is not great, but it's 6 more than I expected to get. I won't be incubating any eggs again for quite some time, but when I do I will have an automatic turner and keep them high up away from kids.

So all together I have 6 keets and 35 chicks. I am DONE. Well, at least until these are fully grown and I know how many hens vs roos I have, as well as how many survive that long. Mortality rates among chicks are high, unfortunately. My goal is about 20 hens and 2 roos. I think I should get that out of this mess, and if I have too many the hens are easy to sell and the roos are yummy.

If the rock with the yolk sac lives I get to make him pipe cleaner casts for his curled toes. How fun is that? :p

Meanwhile, over the past couple of days I have neglected my children for my chicks, and that needs to stop. They've enjoyed the break from school and housework, but wow, do we need to get back to it! We have friends coming over tomorrow! Both brooders need cleaned and I must finish the coop door and run before Monday. I'm supposed to go pick up free tires from craigslist today and I work cleaning an office this evening. My squash and tomatoes need their cages made and put on them pretty much right now.

So can I go to bed now?

Update 10:39
Got back from work half an hour ago. Both chicks with yolk sacs are dead. Others seem fine. Finally going to bed now.