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
The Kitchen's Garden 
63 responses to “POURING UP”
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 .