Updated: Spring Chicks Make Little Cheeks Smile

Updated Monday, April 16: A local farm is trying something a little different this year to get people interested in farming and supporting local agriculture. Rocklands Farm, near Darnestown, is renting its chicks.

"We are running a special program this year to kick off our Spring farmer's market season," said AJ Minite, who works with the farm. "We are giving families an opportunity to borrow our baby chicks for two weeks around Easter time and then they can return them to the farm once they've grown up a bit."

This is the first year the farm, just three years operational, has offered the program, but according to Minite interest is growing. One family that decided to take on the challenge has offered to share their experience with Patch and will regularly upload photos of their chicks.

The Hill family lives in Germantown, with a 3-year-old daughter, a 18-month-old daughter and a little boy on the way.

"We decided to participate in the program because we thought it would be a very fun and memorable experience for our kids," Kelly Hill said. "Our daughters love animals and we knew they would be thrilled to take care of pair of chicks for two weeks."

According to Hill, the experience has been positive for her girls who are learning how to handle the chicks gently, a sort of preparation for when their baby brother arrives in May. 

"We absolutely loved this experience!" Kelly wrote in to Patch after uploading her final pictures. "We were pleasantly surprised by how sweet and cuddly the chicks were. They loved hopping up and snuggling in our laps, especially our older daughter's. Our younger daughter quickly learned how to say 'chicks' and this was her very first word every morning when she woke up. Although the chicks needed to be checked on several times a day, they were very easy to care for. We are so thankful for these special memories and really hope we are able to participate in this program again next year!"