Lady Bren and the Peeps

     So tell me what thought came to mind when you read the title of this post.  Did you think that I was having an issue with the marshmallow Easter candy? ?  Or maybe you thought I started a jazz band.  Neither guess is even close!  There are actually six peeps in this story and while they are "musical" at times we are not touring any jazz clubs any time soon.  Merida, Sloane, Bambi, Monk, Spot and Carlotta are the 6 latest addition to our ever growing family and they're all chicks.
     That's right we now have six chicks chirping away in our laundry room as you read this.  We went to the Farmer's Market two Sundays ago with the intentions of learning more about pygmy goats and different breeds of chickens.  Next thing you know I'm carrying a box not much bigger than a tissue box with six puffs of fluff chirping inside.  They were so small and cute, all six fit into the palm of my hand.

     To set the story straight, and to give me a little more credit in the impulse purchase department here's what happened.  We first talked to a dealer who was selling mature chickens, 6 months and older.  He had every kind of fowl you could imagine from peacocks to turkeys that belong on a hallmark card.  He must have had at least 15 different breed of chickens and he was gracious with his time answering my many questions.  It was very helpful seeing the different chickens live after all the reading I've been doing.  We left him confident in the breeds we liked and glad to have a resource for chicks. 

   Everything would have been fine had we not decided to check out the last building at the Market.  Right inside the door was a breeder with baby chicks.  We were only going to get 3 but then Michael wanted to get more than one breed so we settled on 6.  They were so tiny and so cute!! 

   Now, 10 days later, they're not so tiny and the cuteness is wearing off.  I really get how unsuspecting parents buy their kids a cute little chick for Easter and within days the love fest is over.  Chicks grow at an incredible rate.  In a matter of days they went from being puffs to almost flying out of the 2' high storage container we had them in.  And noisy... I can't tell you how many times we've looked for a mute button.  BUT we love them.  

        Let me properly introduce you to the Peeps:

First there's the Americanus.  The cool thing about this breed is they lay green and blue eggs which is why they are also known as Easter Eggers.  

Merida is named so because she is the bravest, always the first to try something

Bambi has soft brown markings and loves to hang out on the roost pole

Sloane tends to hang on her own if she's not with Bambi

The next breed are Barred Plymouth Rocks.  When they're grown their markings make me think of a test pattern.  Right now they have the cutest little white tuft bottoms similar to a rabbit's tail

Monk ~ look at the pic and you'll get it

Spot ~  getting so we can't tell her from Monk and is named in homage to the TV series 101 Dalmations

Carlotta ~ instead of the large white/yellow spot on its head like her sisters she has a line/mohawk.  She also has a dark line across her beak.  

Monk and Spot like to get everyone riled up.  When we had them in the container these two were the bosses but now that everyone can spread their wings the pecking order is up for grabs.  Carlotta is a complete Diva and doesn't like to share the food or water containers.