After the disaster that was last week, we had to sit down and give some real thought as to whether or not we wanted to try this whole mail order chick thing again. This whole order, was LITERALLY my worst nightmare come to life.
It was a really rough couple days. We spent a lot of time blaming ourselves for different reasons. It was too cold or we should have to driven to get them from Hampden… I went thru times of extreme self doubt… how could I really be a care conscientious livestock owner when I was ordering chicks and they were dying from the elements… when I had known that this was a real possibility but went ahead regardless because I selfishly wanted chicks in March.
We were on the fence as to how we were going to do this. We know that in order to be most cost effective in owning and rearing chickens, especially meat birds, we need to order them from a hatchery ourselves, and cut out the middle men like TSC.
I just…. I cried more for those poor little things, then I have in a long time. I feel like I deserve the blame for initiating the whole deal in the first place. My hubby, he’s pretty insistent that it isn’t my fault, but in the end, it was my decision to go ahead.
But, after much soul searching and discussion,, including conceding to the fact that we have about 40 bucks worth of chick stuff that can’t really be wasted, we decided to give this whole mail order chick thing one more go.
In April.
We figure, we’re getting good solid 40 degree days right now- its the overnight temps that probably did them in. Late next month should be ok.
And if it isn’t, then this mail order bird thing, it just isn’t for us.
Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that we spent so much getting ready, we’d probably call it for the year. But part of zero waste, is not wasting money or things we spent money on.
So, here we are. We’ve been doing plenty of other stuff around ye old homestead. MrGillis and our handyguy have been working away at the shed project. I got my newest order in for lotion ingredients. We’ve been beefing up security around about as well. In a town with no cops, its a good idea to have cameras, good heavy duty locks and motion sensor lights, honestly.
Also, I’m working on a new blog series that will be kind of sporadically thrown in- I am dubbing “The Chicken Profiler”. It’s going to be all about the breeds we’ve had over the years, filled with cool breed factoids and stories of crazy chicken antics.
Until next time, have a wicked good day!
Gillis Gardens, LLC 