Double S Farms Newest Arrivals.... - Ramblings from a Desert Garden

As many of you know, my mother, sister and her family are residents of Double S Farms, and live only 5 minutes away from my home.

I love to share tidbits about desert ‘farm’ life, which really isn’t all that different from that of a normal farm. I enjoy posting about their resident chickens and dogs, their citrus, peach , plum and apple trees and of course, Mr. Toad.

Earlier this week, they received some new arrivals on the ‘farm’. My sister, Chicken Farmer, has her own blog and here is her latest post:

“I got a call early this morning from the post office that a box had arrived for me that was marked “live animals” and was making noises. Oliver and I high tailed it over to pick our special delivery up. The chicks came all the way to Arizona from Connecticut (1 day express) which seems like a pretty hefty trip for these tiny things. Because of this, I’m always a little apprehensive opening the box in case one or more didn’t make it. Fortunately, the box was very loud and I could feel the girls moving around inside.

We carefully opened the box and found our newest little pets all snuggly and sweet inside.

Meet Lottie the buff orpington

And Cookie the black australorp

And Minnie the silver laced wyandotte (Can you tell Finley named this one? Although I’m sure I don’t spell it the way he’d want me to)

Any my personal favorite…Francie the naked neck.

Once we got the girls unpacked, we carefully placed them into the brooder which will be their home until they are fully feathered (around 6 or 7 weeks) and ready to move outside.

They immediately dove into their food and water and filled their little bellies until they could hardly stand up. These girls are pooped out! Francie (the naked neck) could hardly hold her head up she was so exhausted.

The girls have a heat lamp in their brooder (which is why the photos have a red tinge) that will keep them at a warm 95 degrees for their first week. They all huddled together and had a nice, well deserved snooze. Again, poor Francie is face down in the pine shavings.

So far, they seem to be adjusting really well. They are well protected under the watchful eye of Sodapop. She won’t get her first (supervised) face to face meeting with them until they are older and bigger. She’s great friends with the big girls but these little ones might be a bit too tempting.

We are excited to have little chickies around again. I forgot how cute and tiny they are! My next task is to do some more research and come up with a plan of action for introducing them to the existing flock when the time comes. That part makes me really nervous… if anyone has any experience with that, I’d love some tips.

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I hope you don’t mind me borrowing my sister’s latest blog post, but I frankly find baby chicks adorable.

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a horticulturist, certified arborist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."