POURING UP
Yesterday was sunny and warm – a good day for shoveling the proverbial and getting things in order. 
Today I awake to pouring down rain – though it would look pretty silly if it was pouring UP. Below is my work of the day. I am taking a big rubbish bag out and cleaning up this work bench. 
I never use it as a work bench, it is more of a depository space but I love it. If I had a kitchen large enough I would bring it inside!
Scroll through those ducks again with an inquisitive eye. Even though at first glance they look identical – every duck has her feathers slightly differently arranged – they are not all identical twins. Can you see Drake? He is the one with orange feet. Though I will seldom collect more than 15 eggs and there are 18 ducks we only have one drake. 
I was taking the duck compost down the back when I spied this in the distance. These drums are VERY useful on the farm so I turned the compost then drove through the wild grass to collect it. 
Tane is always happy with more straw. His bed is as soft as I can get it. 
Look ( below) who arrived on the porch yesterday morning. Chickens are almost never on the verandah. This is one of my favorite breeds. The Old Codger used to raise this breed. These are leghorns – they are small, gentle, don’t eat a lot and lay big hard white eggs. I find they lay much longer than the myriad of other prettier varieties I have. They are not that appealing to look at – their white feathers are never clean and their white eggs are not popular with free range farmers like me but they do very well. Those Rhode Island Reds are more popular but I prefer my filthy scrawny tough little chooks. 
Their big white eggs travel well too. I will be ordering more Leghorn chicks this spring along with THIRTY ( god help me) more Khaki Campbell ducklings.
OK. Out into the rain I go then back in to chat with you in The Lounge with my coffee before I begin this weeks reading.
Take care
Celi
Hm
63 Comments on “POURING UP”
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Tane looks so sweet! One drake is blessing – they like to fight over the ladies.
So has the Leghorn heard about the farmy and come to stay?
I have a bunch of them in the chook house – I don’t know why this one came up to visit!
I love how this farm evolves based on needs and simply what works for you. I joined the Fellowship somewhere around the time you had moved away from keeping sheep and now I believe the pigs, ducks and chickens have taken charge! Remember the adventure into goats?! You’ve never been shy to try new ideas C, I admire you for that 🙂
I do remember those goats! Never again!!
I love the pic of the bench! What is on it? I would love a workspace like that in a big kitchen. But we have a tiny 1940s galley-style kitchen in our 1841 condo with just enough room at one end for a small table for my children to eat at while I’m making lunches in the morning before school.
I love that chicken! I’m glad you are getting more. And I’m fine with white eggs. I don’t know where the myth about brown eggs being healthier came from! Clever marketing, sadly.
I hope your reading assignments are good and interesting. I love reading with hot cups of tea during cold weather!
I meant 1941 not 1841. The hazards of typing on the phone in the dark trying not to wake my Little at 5:45 am.
I was puzzling over such an OLD CONDO! I also have a small galley kitchen – just as well I say – imagine having even more space to mess up and then have to clean!
So true!
i love seeing how you spend your days on the farm, always something to be done, someone to give bit of extra care to – happy new year to you
Happy new year to you too!
Gosh Celi, how did you manage only 1 drake with 17 females? Did they sex them before they sent them and send only one male? We got a straight run of the Muskoveys ducklings this summer, and I guess they were more difficult to breed…not sure exactly, but they were expensive and over a month late in arriving as they couldn’t raise enough of them. There were more males than females, and we lost one of the females. Now we have 6 very large males and three smaller females. Not great for egg production! 😦
I only ever buy pullets. It is a little more expensive but they are sexed and the males are dropped straight into the straight run bin. So odds are you get more males than you would expect. So technically this drake got through by mistake.
I have another question. Do ducks have a pecking order like chickens? They are lovely and seem to fit in well with your farm plans.
I wish you a good day with that very useful bench and a very Happy New Year.
That is a very good question too- my observation shows me that they don’t really have a pecking order – chickens can get quite nasty but the ducks are gentle with each other. Having just one male helps. But I will need to work on combining the flocks slowly hoping there won’t be a ruckus- time enough to worry about that though
30 more ducks! You won’t be able to hear yourself think next summer. But it does seem like the smart financial decision. And they are cute in pics, not that that is part of the decision making, just my perspective. 🙂
They are so herdable and spend most of the day put in the fields – so I think I will train them to go into a field with the gate shut , then I will bring them back up
To the barn in the evenings. I think it is doable. Maybe!
With you all things are doable. You are a Doer. It’s a gift, being a Doer. Never doubt it.
That old work bench looks like my dad’s. Old pieces – even if repurposed- have something of a dignity – honest worker.
We’re cold and rainy here, too with hope of clearing later.
Take care and Happy New Year to large and small there!
Thank you – yes – happy new year for you also!
That’s a very tall comb on that Leghorn, C. Any possibility it’s a rooster?
Nope- that is a hen. They all have those long combs
Did wonder, the wattles aren’t remarkable in the least; )
Yes there’s something about ducks that are particularly cute. I love how they are so happy to putter about in puddles galore. Sweet creatures. And is orange feet the one indicator of maleness?
(I can’t believe I wrote that sentence)
Yes! Orange feet – black head – also he has a different kind of quack.
That was lucky only one male in your batch of ducks! So nice to see that they do have their differences 😀 Happy New Year to you Celi and your family. Also to all the fellowship of the farmy.
I ordered only females. And aren’t they lovely now they are all grown up. At least I think they are all grown up!
Good grief, Miss C, another 30? Well, perhaps the grown-up ducks will keep the new babies in line and show them the ropes, like grown up pigs teaching piglets to behave. That workbench is beautiful: I had a friend who used to set the tops of battered old benches and tables in clear acrylic resin with a brownish tinge. She called it ‘encasing history in amber’ and said that she was preserving the scars of man’s labour for posterity. The resulting tables looked wonderful.
I know! I am crazy. But they are so easy to manage and I have a good system so far. Just working on the research as to the market. I have to be able to sell more!
Happy New Year!
And for you!
🙂
Happy New Year! Love the ducks!
Me too!
The light on the ducks is exquisite! The old work bench is wonderful, I’d have it in my kitchen too, do have one similar just not as big, made by a friend’s husband from old timber many years ago. Happy New Year…it’s the year of the pig in Chinese astrology……..that’s got to be good when you have piggies galore.
I am looking seriously at kitchen benches now – wondering .
Pouring up sounds very practical when the ground is fully saturated already. I’m sure all the rain makes the ducks quite happy though probably not the dogs. Every flat surface in my home always seems to be a collection point so like you are doing, you have to go by and offload the clutter. I love the old bench though. Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year.
The dogs are deeply unimpressed about having to be washed before they come in after chores.
Mine hated the rain so much and loved the snow as much as she hated the rain. Funny creatures. 😉
Oh yes!! Boo loves to roll in the snow
Loghorns – makes me think of Warner Brothers Foghorn Leghorn with that sweet South Carolina accent. MORE DUCKS!?!?!? I am so glad they are working out for you and adding to the farm budget. Happy New Year to you and the farm cast.
Because they are free range these 18 eat about two scoops of feed a day. Not much at all compared with the chickens. The chicks are more expensive though but they pay themselves off in a week.
lovely day for photography! Happy New Year!
A Happy and Glorious New Year to you, Celi, all the residents of the Farmy and everyone in the Lounge.
Are the leghorns more aggressive with each other? I was told that they are less likely to get taken by a fox, although I think that they are all just as likely to get taken if they are the only options. I just did not get (white) leghorns because I did not want them being mean to other hens. I sort of like the white eggs, but that is not too important to me. Rhode Island reds are the standard for us, both for egg production, and for meat. I would be pleased with just the one breed, because they happen to work.
If it works! I find the Rhode Island’s are more likely to peck at me when I Am collecting eggs and they fight each other. Not the leghorns – they are never in fights. Jake has Rhode Island roosters and they are vicious! But they do eat more which makes them better meat birds.
Whoa! NO WAY! That is just the opposite response I was expecting. I am not familiar with the leghorns. Perhaps I should be. Our Rhode Island reds can be aggressive, but I would not say that it is a problem. If leghorns are less so, they are worth getting acquainted with. . . . Well, I am just saying.
The leghorns are quite an old fashioned bird. Not popular anymore. But I like them and their eggs are huge!
I had thought I read somewhere that leghorns were more likely to fly. I have a large area fenced in cattle panels for the goats and Percy and I prefer the chickens stay put in there.
I must send away for the old fashioned types. People here go for what is hip and trendy, even if the weird popular hens are very inferior. So many of such hens are so genetically screwed up That they are always sickly, with those fluffy feathery feet that collect poop and scum and such. I feel badly for the birds, that are really just garden accessories for us to brag about rather than reasonably respected providers of eggs and meat. Sadly, that is how we are here.
I blame the hippies!
Hippies? . . . . or Yuppies?
Yuppies! Oh I forgot about them. Or were they US?
Oh, HECK NO!
The New Year is almost 10 hours old here, so a real Happy New Year from the Antipodes ! Am not a ‘fireworks lady’ usually but stayed up to watch those on the Sydney Harbour last night . . . they truly were the most magnificent I have ever seen! YouTube methinks ?? Over 1 1/2 million on the foreshores including hundreds of planeloads of delightful young Chinese, Korean and Japanese youngsters with their huge smiles and very good English: we make a lot of tourist dollars with this . . . . meanwhile may the ‘new one’ be kind to all of us . . .
Just checked for friends: Global News has the full 13 minutes on . . . put it on full screen and enjoy . . .
That is great! I was just reading on Morristown how Times Square – you have to go through security, no drinking, no toilets, police with semi automatics and security drones flying overhead!! Sounds like a nightmare to me!
Ceci: methinks they had to take an awful lot of precautions here also – but it was all done with a smile and people really did not mind and felt safe and secure hearing the helos above and seeing the police presence . . . no big deal . . .but DO watch that display: much more ‘sophisticated’ than even a few years ago . . .
And no umbrellas and it’s raining! No thanks. I haven’t seen the new year in in years, I’ll say hello to it in the morning.
I truly am sorry you struck bad weather wherever you were ! I watched both the Sydney Family show at 9pm and the midnight wonderment and there was not a drop in sight . . . it’s so lovely to be amongst the warm and laughing crowds hoping to have a wonderful night and day and year . . . . and I do not believe anyone minded a short burst of expected rain very early in our night . . .
Rain, then a dusting, so it is white out there. Stay well, and have a merry New Year.
Last night’s logistics in Sydney have just come in – thought them interesting: cost of fireworks 5.8 million dollars ; tourist and other income 133 million; over 1 billion watching so far around the world – but, most importantly the police made just 35 (that says thirty-five) arrests during the night, 21 of them drug related and NOT one serious ! No, we don’t mind the police presence at all . . . wonder how many babies they brought into the world 🙂 ! They have a marvellous record of doing that . . .
I’m sure they’re not at all but the ducks looks so touchable… soft smooth ruffly feathers 🦆
Foghorn Leghorn as a cartoon growing up makes a lot more sense as a name for a chicken…