I've decided that I'm just going to take about 50 of the RIR's down to the feedstore tomorrow morning. DH wants me to KEEP the RIR's!
They are his favorite breed of chicken. I spose I don't need to sell ALL of them.
So we're going to keep about a dozen or so of the RIR's I guess. I'm not a big fan of RIR's, but if I keep DH happy, I'm happy, so he gets some RIR's.
The 100 free bonus chicks were 50 Barred Rocks and 50 Ameracaunas. My mom took home 3 RIR's and 1 BR, and when I counted the BR's I still have 50! So they must have sent 51. Some of the chicks were DOA, so I did a head count of the BR's (lost none) and the Ameracaunas (lost 7). I'm working on the headcount of the RIR, but I've lost about 20 so far. It was pretty frustrating. They were so cold and weak when they arrived today (which is why I decided not to try to sell any today) and they've been dropping like flies all day. I called Mt. Healthy and told them what was going on and I am glad they are a good 4 hours away from me or I would have drove over and slapped the woman I talked to! She is obviously NOT a chicken person! I told her that some were DOA and that still more were dropping off and her reply was, "Well, they always send extras so you need to count them and see what you have left."
She wants me to count the LIVE chicks! Not the ones that died. I was a bit surprised. I said you do realize I ordered 200 chicks? She said yes I'm looking at your order, and you need to count and see if you still have 200.
Ok, I understand that they want to ONLY refund me for the ones I paid, but I know I counted 200 RIR's and at least 12 of those have expired since I counted. But to make them happy, I'll count the RIR's I have, and if I have less than 200 I will only report the ones that I paid for. No sense counting any extras since they were free.
I guess this surprised me because when I have ordered from McMurray they are always happy to hear from me and any reports on how the chicks fared during shipping. I call and tell them if they made it OK, not just when I have DOA's.
So while I was picking more heat lamps at the feedstore a customer asked if I was the one with the chicks. The owner told them yes she is and she's bringing them down tomorrow. (Love how he talked for me!) The customer looked at me and asked, "Do you have Guinea Keets?" I said, "No" and before I could say anything else, the feedstore owner piped up with, "But she can get them in!"
I know he was just trying to be helpful, because he knows this is a main source of income for me and DH right now.
THEN someone else came in and requested DUCKLINGS.
WHAT HAVE I STARTED???????????????????
I had no intentions of doing guineas, and didn't want to try ducklings until after I knew how the chicks would go this year, but it looks like I might be placing an order for keets from Meyers (and picking them up with my chick order) and a duckling order from Metzer farms (which I was planning on doing for myself anyway).
the guy at the feed store! 
