Moving Birds

From time to time I help my dad on the farm. He’s almost 85 and while still active and doing for himself, there are some things he needs a little help with. Yesterday we were relocating the ducks. They start out in an incubator, move to the 4 ft by 2 ft enclosure in the barn. Yesterday we moved them outside to a 8 ft by 3 foot pen.

Little known fact, ducks can make mud out of anything. They love water and they are messy. Getting them outside with a pool so they can clean themselves up and drink as much as they want is important, but not until they are old enough to regulate their body temp. Having them outside while adding a few steps to my dad’s routine, should make it a lot easier for him. Not to mention better for the ducks.

We also added ten chicks this year, easter egger chickens. We moved those out of the incubator into the chicken house yesterday. Previously we have been an all-female farm. As all the animals are female, female ducks and chickens lay eggs with no rooster. This year my dad got a mixed bag on the ducks. We’ll see what kind they are as they grow. While the duck babies are five times the size of the chicks, they don’t have any plumage yet.

I must get back to editing and formatting since deadlines are approaching fast. Read to a happy place. 😁