Even Cuter

OK, the chicks were cute but I think these guys are way cuter.

I've been wanting Ancona ducks for over a year and had made arrangements to get some shipped to me with some Calico Cochins but a bad hatch left me without either. I made more arrangements for Ancona's from a different party and believe it or not they too had a bad hatch and didn't have enough to fill my order.

So I decided to go to the best source I know Boondockers Farm.  For those who don't know Boondockers bought Holderread's prized Ancona flock, after Holderread brought them back from the brink of vanishing in North America. The American Livestock Breed Conservancy's 2000 Census only showed 128 breeding Ancona birds in North America and their status is still critical.

 I was able to get in for Boondockers June 24th hatch and have been waiting with baited breath.  I saw someone post yesterday that their ducks from Boondockers were at the post office...and I still hadn't received my tracking #. Oh no? Please say THEY didn't have a bad hatch and I wasn't getting any.  I emailed them and later that evening they sent me my tracking # with a delivery estimate of this morning. Phew...the ducks were on their way!

This morning I got the eagerly awaited call from the post office saying they were there. Yippee! I'm not normally very excited to get calls at 6:30 am but this morning it was a relief!  I quickly got dressed and headed to the post office who let me in before opening.

Here is what greeted me when I opened the box:

Since I can't keep them all I tried to vent sex them (identify gender). It must have been quite the sight seeing Kt and I inspecting the little duckies privates.  It's not as easy as it looks on the videos! Finally we made our best guesses, 6 girls and 5 boys...and there were only supposed to be 10 ducklings, we got an extra. Thank-you Boondockers!

We think these are the boys...

And these are the girls...look at the perfect heart on the left upper duckling's head! Sweet

Kt likes this little black one..

The best little rubber ducky ever

I couldn't be more pleased with this shipment.  I believe we have almost all the Ancona color varieties and they are nicely marked  There are a couple of blacks, some chocolates, lavender, I'm guessing some Lilac's (lighter lavenders), and maybe a Silver (this one's almost all yellow but you can see some silvery white in it's down).  It's pretty hard to tell exactly what some will end up but there is definitely a variety!

Two weeks later...they haven't changed much!

Here are some of the MF/Calico Cochin chicks two weeks later.  They haven't really changed much have they?

A little bigger, a few more feathers but still cute!

I think this is Kt's favourite-it's hard to tell what color it will end up.

A box of cuteness

Look what came in the mail a couple of weeks ago (yes a couple of weeks ago...sigh...never enough time in the day to the Blog updated!).

I woke up in the morning to a phone call from the post office-your chicks are here! I got up and drove down and there was a chirping box.  These weren't day old chicks so I was pretty worried about their travels. They came from South Dakota to Denver and then on up to Bailey by express post. Even though they were express going between here and there it's a two day trip. And Denver was getting pretty warm (mid-90's).

Here is the box they arrived in...

And this was what was inside! An assortment of colors and sizes

Pretty cute aren't they?

I was shipped 11 chicks alas 2 didn't survive the journey, one was dead on arrival and another despite my offerings of sugar water and egg died a few hours later.  Despite the losses which saddened me, I was quite happy that the others had made their long journey without harm.  I'll only be keeping a few of these as I don't need this many chickens, now how to choose amongst them?

Of Chicks and Chickens

I've had a fondness for Cochin chicks since I purchased my first paid a year ago so in February I decided to order some Cochin eggs for hatching. Then I read about how hard it is to hatch eggs that were shipped from a lower altitude. Sigh. It really does pay to research before you buy.  I don't know how I missed this tidbit of information before I ordered.  I dutifully set 15 eggs for hatching and immediately broke a couple because my incubator is too small for that many-but how could I not try to get them in?

In March after painstakingly candling the eggs (the process of shining a bright light into the egg to see it's development) I was down to just 3 eggs that looked viable. Of those just one hatched. What a cute little thing.

Trey hatching

A day old..

Wanting buddies for my little chick, I purchased a couple of Silver Laced Wyandotte Chicks in April, and then at the end of April a couple more Cochin Chicks.  All went well until it was time to graduate from the hutch in my office to the outside world.

The Wyandotte Chicks,

"Trey" my sole hatching chick went out first as he was the oldest. My plan was to slowly acclimate him by putting him out for short periods in the chicken pen. What's that saying about "the best laid plan"?  Jinny my cochin hen didn't think much of the new addition and chased him out of the pen. I didn't realize that a chick already feathered out could slip so easily between the wire mesh.  Jasper alerted me to his escape but I couldn't find him, so I let Jasper off his leash and "whoosh" Jasper was chasing from his hideout. I quickly grabbed him and brought him inside and decided to wait a little while before putting him out again.

I reinforced the pen with chicken wire and tried again the following week. This time things went even worse...Trey got out and Jasper got him. I found him limp and bleeding and laid him beneath the nesting box to peacefully pass. An hour or so later he hadn't passed. I decided to bring him inside and let him die in peace. He didn't die. I examined him and found that he was missing a wing and his wing socket was protruding. I didn't have much hope, but washed his wounds, put an antibiotic cream on them and put antibiotics in his water. I put him in the hutch for the night not expecting him to be alive in the morning. I lifted the hutch door with trepidation the next morning and there was Trey drinking and eating as if nothing were wrong. His injuries didn't seem to bother him anymore.

A couple of weeks passed and the "Eau de Chicken" smell in my office was driving me crazy, so I decided once again it was time for the birds to move outside.  I moved all three into the coop and watched carefully as I planted my garden. All seemed OK-the chicks were keeping to themselves in the coop.  Jinny was clucking scornfully but wasn't chasing anybody.  A couple of hours later I checked again and Trey was gone! He was nowhere to be seen. We searched high and low but couldn't find him.  I hoped we'd find him the next morning but there was no sign. The two Wyandottes seemed to be faring all right in the big coop so I left them there.

That evening when I went to shut everyone in-the Wyandottes were gone too. I searched some more but they too seemed to have vanished.  How dissapointing, all that work raising the chicks only for them to disappear.

The birds later showed up dead by my guesthouse-dogs had got to them but I don't think they intended to kill them as they weren't torn up. It looked like the birds had probably run and the dogs chased. It was sad-especially as Trey was found a week later and it looked like he had just been killed as his little body was limp with no rigamortis. 

Meanwhile the fearsome Ginny who probably was the cause of all this trouble through her chasing of the chicks...crawled under the chicken wire around my garden and proceeded to mow down all of the plants I had so painstakingly nurtured all Spring. She left just one lone potato and the pumpkin plants.  Ginny is sure lucky she lays well as she'd be so out of here...