The great chicken mixup

 We had some interesting adventured with chicks this year.  I ordered them in two batches so that I could get my meat birds started.  I wanted so many rare breeds for layers and ordered so late this year that the soonest I could get all the birds together would have been the middle of June.  A bit late for the meat birds.  So last week I was suppose to receive my 20 buff orpington males and 5 RIR (rhode island red) hens.  (Because they are so popular the RIR hens were available earlier then all the rest of my hens.)

The day they were suppose to arrive came and I was up early waiting for the call from the post office.  But instead of hearing from them we got a call from a man in St Paul saying he had received his and our chicks.  It was 6:30 in the morning so no on could call the hatchery (Meyer) so despite being annoyed and confused I just shrugged it off and waited.  But an hour later my post office calls and says they have chicks for me.  I was confused, but hey, chick with my name on it aren't going to sit in some cold post office.  Forest picked them up while I got things ready.  A regular little chicken midwife complete with hot water and towels. :)  When they got home and we looked in the box it was definitely not my order.  There were only 15 chicks and it was an assortment (rare by the look).  I'll admit we were all in a bit of shock.  There was no packaging slip so I hadn't a clue who this box belonged to.  But again I just shrugged because there was nothing I could do until I talked to the hatchery.  Everyone got fed and watered and was put in a nice warm box in the back room.

Later in the day I got to call the hatchery and explained what had happened.  I felt so bad for the lady that I talked to because it wasn't her fault at all, but I knew it had to be hard dealing with such a crappy mix up.  She was great though and got everything straightened out quickly.  She said my ordered would be shipped the next week and I could keep the chicks I received.  I felt bad for the person who didn't get their chicks but thrilled too to be getting such a wide assortment of new birds.  So far I have identified six breeds and there are still two I'm not totally sure of yet.  The six are naked neck turkins (top photo), golden polish (who actually died a few days ago), golden spangled hamburg (second photo), golden campine, sicilian buttercup (third photo) and two buff brahmas (that I am Thrilled about! last photo).  The two breeds I don't know for sure look like barnevelder and either blue hamburg or blue andalusian.   We've lost 4 out of the 15 in the first 4 days.  I can hardly complain seeing as these were free but I'll admit it makes me just a twinge worried about how hardy the rest of my chicks will be.

Still I am thrilled with my new chicks, looking forward to the others and am enjoying my life with chickens.