For some reason I keep hearing this voice; "Zeke, tell us about your chickens...." So I guess I better get to it.
It has been a very busy summer. We started in very early spring on an adventure to do some hobby farming. We decided to do chickens and rabbits for meat and ducks for eggs.
We started with 6 ducklings and something like 25 meat chickens and a couple of rabbits.
Just as our chickens and ducklings were starting to grow a weasel got into our shed while we were at town getting feed and hay for our adventure. He quickly slaughtered each and every one of our feathered critters. No rhyme or reason. He only took one or two away to eat.
So, back to town to get smaller wire for our rabbits just to make sure that they didn't meet the same fate.
Thank God that the Zekelettes were spending the night with their cousin and didn't witness the carnage.
We then brought home just 2 Pekin ducks so that the girls would have some kind of consolation. The youngest was very attached to each of those birds.
A short time later we bought 2 banty chickens. One turned out to definitely be a rooster , so we named him Elvis, and the other Priscilla. Meanwhile I ordered a couple of Khaki Campbell ducks from a friend who was hatching them in his incubator.
We also bought a couple of Guinea hens , which are named Frank & Beans.
I have also referred to them as the Jordanaires being that they hang with Elvis and Priscilla.
Our Pekin ducks also turned out to be 1 male and 1 female, so they are Donald and Daisy. Our Khaki Campbells also ended up being 1 male and 1 female, and we named them Daffy and Daphney.
Meanwhile, we bought some more breeding rabbits, determining that our breeders would also serve as pets. Silver Flash and Black Beauty have just recently given us 5 brand new bunnies. A couple of them will end up being breeders, and the rest meat for the freezer. Two of the others that I had bought for breeders actually ended up in the freezer already so that the Zekelettes could hand raise a couple of bunnies from scratch.
It was funny. At first the ducks were afraid to go down and get into our pond. They would only swim in their little kiddie pool, and then only if it was clean!
Now they all go down and hang out in the pond for most of the day.
One day a wood duck showed up and hung out with them. Even went up to their pen area for a while. She even came back the next day. Haven't seen her in a long time now.
Who would have thought that a few chickens and ducks could be such great entertainment!!!
We love them and they are quite spoiled too. They have wandered off a couple of times now, but they come back from the woods when we call them.
Next spring we will probably get a couple of Indian Runners (ducks) and some more Guineas. The Guineas eat ticks and bugs and even snakes! They also make a great predator alarm. I have also been eyeballing the size of them and thinking about freezer fodder.
All in all, it has been a wonderful family adventure so far. Never knew that I would get so much enjoyment out of a handful of strange little creatures.
God surely is good!