Today's Journey

We will be picking up another 6 Blue Swede ducklings today. Josh and I have become very enamored of our Blue Swedes, they have a really great combination of characteristics: large (so large eggs), calmer than the smaller duck breeds and lots of personality. Plus, let's face it, the silver-blue coloration is really lovely.

The girls we'll keep for eggs, for the drakes things are a bit more complicated. We might try separating out a drake and a few Blue Swedish gals in Bunhalla West to see if we can get a few clutches of fertilized eggs. The Cochins may be amendable to brooding duck eggs, which would be wonderful. Extra males will be offered up on Craigslist and if not sold, we'll schedule them for processing once they reach the proper size. We'll see how it goes.

We're taking Gracie so she can guard & babysit them on the way home in the car. It's important with Border Collies to set up that role at the get go. Especially with Libby, the Huntress, on duty at all hours.

Picy goodness when we get home.

The new batch of babies

We took Gracie to visit Lane's farm and she had an absolute blast! You gotta love a farmer. As we're tucking away the Swedes, he asks if we're interested in chicks, too. We ended up buying Blue Swedes (4 of them) ducks and Black Silkie chicks (3 of them). Gracie is in heaven - she's on guard duty until further notice.



The ducklings are almost 3 weeks old and acclimated to the outdoor temperatures as long as they aren't exposed to drafts. Not sure how old the chicks are, though - I've sent him an email inquiring.

For now, we've tucked them away in the chicken pen, so they are protected from Libby, the Bassets and the adult birds. We've set up the old hutch brooder, which should serve pretty well for the foreseeable future. At some point, the chicks and ducklings won't want to have much to do with each other but for now, they are their own little flock.