Chicks and Ducklings. In the mail!
John and the Matriarch want duck for Christmas dinner. But I bought a few extra so I could breed them too. Sadly two of the extra were dead on arrival. So we have four Orpington ducks. The chickens are a selection of cold-hardy layers. Next week the meat chickens come. By then the glass house will be empty and the chicks will be raised in there. These ones are on the verandah, in the meantime, in an enormous horse trough with a heating lamp, so they can take advantage of the lovely warm sunny days.
My friend and I shifted the old chooks and their ark over to the the Barn Across the Way. The lady who rents the house close to the barn is keeping an eye on them for me. She had a number of visiting children and they streamed out of the house like bright giggling ribbons caught in a summer breeze and proceeded to name all the chooks. 
When children become involved with the process of their food I feel a deep sense of rightness. One little girl looked at the chooks and then looked back up. Can I have Spoiled eggs for lunch? She said.
I put the feeder pigs together yesterday, perfumed and coiffed and initially they were just fine, but later it all fell apart. The fighting was terrible. Blood was shed. Just between the Red and Number Three. (see! even when they have No names they have names). This big red fella would not give up, so after a number of hours, I gave up and shut the gates again. They were heaving, ill, exhausted. Hanging on each other like old boxers. So now Number Three has company. And The Big Red bad tempered one, who is growing at an astronomical rate, is on the other side of the gate by himself in his room thinking about how he could have Done Better.
So all is quiet again. I have room enough to raise them side by side. If they do not settle down that is what I will do. No problem really.
It was hot yesterday, in the high 80’s. And we basked in it. Sheila and Poppy were basking a little too much so I put the hose in the wallow so they could get out the suntan lotion. Mud. So clever. Sheila was straight in there, oh she was so relieved to find the mud again. Poppy is still in the discovery stage.
Good morning. Look at these little ducklings. Sitting at the bar.
Life is good. I am worn out already. But good. I have also successfully integrated Mama and her flock with Queenie’s flerd. So now all the stock is in the good paddock and will stay out of the barn from now on. Deeply satisfying!
Have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
59 responses to “Look what came in the Mail”
I love Sheila. She just owns it 🙂 And the ducklings… no matter how old you get ducklings never cease to appeal. Relaxed colorful country kids… I feel like a kid today seeing all these pics. And like the plonkers, a good lesson for us all to remember – sometimes people are mean, and when they are keep away from them.
Exactly no talking to mean pigs/people. c
Now things go at even more of a quacking pace!
.laugh!!.. c
We used to each receive a baby chick for an Easter gift. We could coddle them for a few days and then they went to Grandma’s farm to live and we visited them all the time. But receiving them in the mail!! Now that is amazing. Loved your comment about the red pig ‘thinking about how he could have Done Better’ I’m sure that is exactly what he was thinking. XX
I hope one of the duckies is male. More duck chicks would be great. My mother kept two ducks, Tuffie (he had a duck/cow lick misbehaving feather) and Quackers..lol Silly names, but they were fun animals. I have good memories of my mom and the ducks. 🙂
At least most of yesterdays activities & behaviors were positive with the exception of the ploinkers fighting. Shelia must have loved a good roll & soak in the warm mud. After such a long hard winter, she must have enjoyed it as if she was being papered at 4 star spa. The chicks all look good & feisty. Sad to lose a couple. but I’m surprised so many make the rough trip through the post unscathed. My favorite new word “Flerd”. At least a couple of species are getting along & now Marcel can fancy himself a sheep, a cow or a little of both depending on what strikes his fancy that day.
I have two rouen duck hens (Ramon, the male had to go to the great duck pond in the sky, he was attacking my laying hens), and I have a plastic wading pool for them. It’s about 6′ across and deep enough for them to swim. I did cut a drain hole in and put a rubber gasket and a pvc fitting with a plug so it was easier to empty and refill. The old saying ‘give a duck a pint of water and it’ll turn the Sahara into a swamp’ is really true. The pool needs to be cleaned out often but the perfect picture of happiness is a duck with fresh water in its pool. I got these girls by default, my stepson’s goofy friend gave them to him for his 30th birthday. I don’t know if he thought he’d keep them in his bathtub or what. They do, however, lay beautiful huge eggs. My kunekune, Percy has also learned to sit up. He and Mac the dog do it together but Mac can hold it longer.
That Percy! Clever wee fella.. c
Love it the way you are so sensitive to your piggies that as soon as they needed it, you had a mud bath ready for them… May for us is still so hot we’re still all in summer clothes…
Oh, how I love that early morning call from the excited postmistress: “The baby chicks have arrived!” We haven’t done it in a few years, but we definitely will again. Worth all the trouble.
And they are so little.. every year i forget how little they are.. c
Warmth! and stock grazing outside on the lush green grass. Just the way it should be. Chickens and ducklings in the mail as well – the farm is full of life. I’m so glad for you.