Addiction?

     In early March, on a spur of the moment stop at Tractor Supply, I left with a box of 8 very young chicks.  The next day at a different Tractor Supply, I bought 7 more.  Two of the first set died within a week, a hazard of feed store chicks and of the very fast growing meat birds that made up half of the original purchase.
     While I was learning more about raising the birds, I joined a forum for backyard chicken growers and ended up connecting with a local gal who had 6 birds that were the same age and breed as one of the heritage types I had purchased and she couldn't keep them.  I met her in a parking lot to buy the chicks from her.  They adjusted quickly to the coop and run and settled into the routine of being let out each morning and returning each evening by dark.
     Eldest son scheduled a visit to come in mid May to cull the two giant meat birds and help do some work at our house with plans to return in early July to cull the rest of the birds that we won't keep as layers.  It appears that most of the 6 I bought last weekend are roosters and won't be kept.
     Today, we went to Tractor Supply to buy a 5 gallon waterer as the gals and guys are now getting quite large, looking like chickens, not chicks and were emptying the 1 gallon jug at least twice a day and in the parking lot was pickup truck with several cages in the back of chicks about a week or two younger.  Two of the three breeds they had, were heritage breeds that I wanted, an Easter egger, that lay blue or green shelled eggs and Buff Orpingtons, that are just a pretty dual purpose chicken.  They were all pullets and I left with one of each to add to my flock. 
     Unfortunately, they are much smaller than the ones we already had and several of the "older" ones took issue with the newbies and attacked them.  This resulted in making an impromptu cage in the corner of the coop to protect them until they get similar size or at least the others get used to them.
     The plan is to keep the two new ladies, 2 of the Rhode Island Reds, and 2 or 3 of the Silver Laced Wyandottes as my laying flock.
     Today's purchase has given my hubby all the fuel he needed to decide that I have a chicken addiction and has resulted in some teasing, all in fun.

     The flock just can't get any larger, the coop and the run just can't handle any more.