Farm Babies

It's definitely spring on our young homestead! Nearly 3 weeks ago we received our order of baby ducks and baby turkeys from Murray McMurray Hatchery. Their shipping costs were expensive, but everyone arrived alive and healthy. There were even a few extras, just for good measure. We went with 5 ducks and 5 turkeys, as we don't plan to build an enormous pond and we haven't tried our hand at turkeys before. Our duck order was sexed so they should all be female. Our turkey order was straight run, and we went in with someone else on the order and can't tell our poults from hers. We did lose one in the first few days, so for now we simply know we have 4 healthy, quickly growing turkeys.

Poults and Ducklings! 

A Royal Palm tom, picture via Livestock Conservancy

The turkeys we ordered were Royal Palms, a heritage listed with the Livestock Conservancy. They are on the small side, but are considered excellent foragers and good flyers. So far, this holds true with our experience! Sitting with them this afternoon, one flew up about 18" and then over about 3' to land just behind my head. Watching them chase bugs is all the more entertaining given they are already having success with their hunt.

We ordered two different types of ducks, the Swedish Black and the Cayuga. I read somewhere that the Swedish lays a black egg, which actually might be something about which I am mistaken. We'll find out in a few months! The two babies we purchased are black with yellow, but the yellow will fade to white. One has spots on her webbing and spots on her beak. Again, they are a bit smaller than say the traditional Pekin, but are considered excellent foragers and hardy, as well as being a good dual purpose breed for their egg laying and meat quality.

A Cayuga, photo courtesy of Moose Manor Farms

I fell in love with the Cayuga the first time I saw their picture - mature ducks are iridescent green! They are a black duck, but in the light have a bright green sheen. Again, I thought they laid a grey/black egg, but it might in fact be a greyish blue. They, too, are considered a good dual purpose breed for their meat and egg laying abilities, but should be more mellow and docile than the Swedish. This appears to be the case already, as the Swedish nip at the turkeys, but the Cayugas just seem happy for another warm body in the nap pile.

Both the Swedish and Cayuga were expensive to purchase, and might have earned themselves a reprieve for the coming holidays, especially if the turkeys grow out. In the future I would consider either having some of our own breeding stock or keeping these breeds on hand for egg laying, with reliance on the Pekin for meat production.

Cardinal or Nuthatch?

The other day we realized it had been too long since we grilled out, as evidenced by the cozy looking bird nest in the back corner of one side. There are 4 perfect little eggs, mostly white with reddish spots. I'm guessing cardinal as we have so many in the yard and it appears they are more common to the area than the White Breasted Nuthatch. Though the color and size of the eggs appears to be more Nuthatch than Cardinal.

Broody Hens

One of our Rhode Island/Easter Egger hens has gone broody. After a few days of dedicated sitting we decided to let her have a try. We got some fertilized eggs from our Cousin and slipped them under her. She's been diligently tending to them for almost a week. She is dominating the nesting box, and the other hens are pretty such sitting on her in order to lay their eggs. We've decided to put her in the maternity ward, which is simply a dog crate on one side of the coop in hopes she'll leave the nesting box alone.

We've finally gathered enough of the supplies that we can begin on the duck pond. I found 2 large koi ponds, one that flows into the other. I also bought a large billboard tarp that we will use to construct a pond roughly 9'x12' and 5' deep. Last summer we started digging a bit, mostly to test Tragdor out and a bit because I'm so eager to have a pond. She goes through roots without any issue and is very stable. It's such fun having Tragdor!