Our new Ameraucana hen arrived today from Washington state. I bought her from a breeder online, Pips&Peeps. I have named her Skye because of the beautiful blue eggs she lays. I added the “e” because it looks so pretty.
Normally, when live birds arrive at the post office a call is placed to the recipient to come pick them up as soon as possible. Instead, I got a call from my mailman offering to bring her to me before beginning his route. I always get a little dizzy standing in line at the post office. It goes so slow and I don’t do well standing in one place for long. What a pleasant surprise to have her delivered! An even bigger surprise was waiting when I opened the box. She had laid an egg while traveling through the postal system. Here she is and just look at the beautiful blue egg!
Who needs Easter Egg dye with eggs like this!
As all new birds should be, Skye will be in quarantine for a few weeks while we observe her and make sure she is healthy. I did not have a good place to keep her, so this morning I answered an ad for a small coop on Craigslist. The young man selling the coop delivered it this afternoon and it is now in my garden. It will need a little paint and some plexiglas panels installed but it should provide nice temporary housing. It is bigger than it looks, 4 feet long by 2 feet wide. Here is the picture from the Craigslist ad. After it has been given the “Mary” treatment I’ll post another picture.
I put one of my Icelandic chickens, Henna in the new coop with Skye. that way she will have a companion. Henna is very “popular” with the roosters and she has suffered some injury to her comb and feathers. A few weeks away from the boys should be good for her. Maybe they will have forgotten her by the time she and Skye join the flock. I am going to give the girls a chance to free range in the garden and see if they can help with my bug problem without doing too much damage. The bugs are wreaking havoc with my cabbage, spinach, chard, kale, and collard greens. We’ll see what these girls can do about it.
Teresa Loop says
Well, did you ever cuten the coop up? Let’s see pic’s of it!
Mary says
Teresa,
If you want adults hens of breeder quality go to http://www.backyardchickens.com and go to the Auction section. That is where a lot of good breeders sell their extras. Thanks for stopping by!
Teresa Loop says
Oh WOW! She is beautiful! How old is she? I didn’t realize you could get birds that size shipped. I’d love to get a girl like her!