It hardly seemed like spring at CLUCK the Chicken Store without the sound of chicks peeping in the brooder.

Fortunately, our friend Virginia just got a new order of chicks and she's letting us raise four of them. They're just nine days old. They are what we would call a mixed bouquet of chicks: a Columbian Wyandotte, a Speckled Sussex, a Cuckoo Maran and an Easter Egger. We chose these little girls because we like the idea of having birds of a different feather in our flock. It's like having a really nice selection of flowers that all complement each other in the garden or in a bouquet. You can watch a video here.

With luck, the eggs should be beautiful, too: dark brown, light brown and blue/green!

The chicks were pretty timid when they arrived and we were worried that all the noise and attention from strangers would make them neurotic. But we needn't have worried. It turned out that our foolproof chicken training methods worked again. The secret? Little bird-sized bits of cooked hamburger. In less than 24 hours, they went from huddling together on the far side of the brooder whenever anyone approached to rushing the door in their eagerness to snatch the next tasty treat from our hands, and their sisters. They now see humans as big friends and providers, not a threat at all.

Be sure to check back on the blog from time to time to keep up with their changes. We can see them growing already and they've been here just a week! Or better yet, stop in and see them in person, I mean, in chicken.

For now, we're surely enjoying the peeping from the back of the store. It definitely seems like a welcome sign of spring, and sunny days to come.