Friday, March 25, 2011

Spring Brings...

Our new chicks arrived this past Thursday.
Eight at the moment and two more to arrive in May. When River saw them she became so excited she was actually trembling.
This will bring our chicken flock up to eighteen. I'm also on the lookout for a few more Muscovy ducks to add to the three we already have and I've decided that one should be a drake. I've been noticing one of the duck hens has become very protective of their eggs and I believe she is preparing a nest. I had noticed lots of downy white feathers in the nest they lay in and this morning I watched as she repeatedly plucked them from her underside to fill the nest. We also have a chicken hen that spent all of last summer attempting to hatch any egg she could get under her. I think we'll need a rooster around anyway, to thwart the drake's possible advances on the chicken hens.
Currently we have more eggs than we know what to do with. Frittata, anyone?My hope is we can sell some once the babies are older and laying and perhaps have some Muscovy ducklings for sell, as well.
I'm enjoying these things spring brings, even if the weather is not cooperating. It's been raining the past several days and after today (clear!) it's supposed to rain on for at least another three. It's cold and wet and really hard to get things prepped for planting outside. We bought a small greenhouse over the weekend and we're going to spend this one dry day getting it put together. I've got seed trays hanging around all over the kitchen and dining room and not enough light or heat to really get them going well, so I'm looking forward to getting it up. Speaking of which... I'm off to work!