Jared said that we would never have them, but here they are! We have six adorable new additions to our family. I've had chickens in the past when I was in Jr. High and I loved them, so I've always wanted to have them again. When Jared was younger he helped with the church chicken coop on occasions and it stunk, so he has always hated chickens. Its a small miracle that we got to pick them up and bring them home!
We picked out a collection of breeds, one Barred Plymouth Rock chicken, one Golden Sex-Link, Two Buff Orpingtons, one white Leghorn, and one Ameraucana chick.
They are happily enjoying a small space in the basement until they get all of their grown up feathers, or stink too bad, in which case they will be residing outside in the coop.
since they are small and there is only six of them, they fit nicely in an empty rubbermaid bin
This chunky chick is the Ameraucana, she will be laying blue or green eggs in the future :)
Here is the Barred Plymouth rock Chick, I've always wanted a whole bunch of these girls because I love their feather coloring. She will have light to medium brown eggs with a touch of pink.
This sister is a Golden Sex-Link Chick, which is a cross between a Road Island Red and Road Island White. She will have brown eggs also.
Here are the twins, both Buff Orpingtons. They should be quite fluffy when they are older and are supposed to be docile and good with children. They will both lay light brown eggs.
and lastly is the white Leghorn, I've owned them in the past and this is the breed that lays most grocery store white eggs. They are good layers, and mature quickly.
instead of fashioning our own coop, we bought one that you just put together. It was the cheapest coop to purchase and it have everything we need. We got it from Cal-Ranch for 219.00. So if the chickens live forever eventually they will pay for themselves right?
whats really cool is that the kids can easily lift up the nesting box lid and collect eggs all by themselves!
I'd like to put some wheels on one end of the coupe so I can move them around to a new area for easy clean up of the coop. This coop also has a pull out tray under the roosting bars for easy cleaning, if you've ever cleaned out a coop you will know that this is a pleasant feature.
Last night was the chicks first night outdoors, and I did not sleep well. It was like I had a newborn again and I had to keep getting up to make sure they were still breathing kind of thing. As you might be aware we are currently having a horrible cold front move through and dash away my hope for spring. They are in their nifty coop and I have the heat lamp secured to the ceiling of the interior of the coop, and they all survived their first night out of the basement. Today I purchased some wood shavings for the interior of the coop to make it more homey, warm and better smelling. I think they like it. I honestly would like it, I kind of want to cuddle up with them under the heat lamp and watch them sleep. We put an old thermostat out to the coop to check the temp, and the last reading tonight was 55... kind of cold... but warmer than the 25 degree's it is outside. I would be concerned if they were acting cold but they all looked like they were sunbathing in a comfortable pile of fluff. When chicks are cold and uncomfortable they huddle together tightly to try to get warm and sometimes they can be quiet noisy. Happy chicks are generally calm and can sleep nicely when they are ready to. When they are awake they are curious and active. I did block the ramp leading to the bottom of the coop just to keep as much warm air in the coop area as possible. Drafts are not the best thing for baby chicks but I'm unsure at what point in time drafts are not such a threat. 
