From left to right- Sassafras, Cheetah, Meiling and Bacon
On Wednesday, 20 May 2009 we received these lovely gals in the mail. It still amazes me how such tiny little things can be shipped and get to their destination in one be piece, but here they are. If you would like to see what they were shipped in, please see Brandy’s post about their arrival (we ordered ours to be shipped with hers).
This is my first post on our new family blog, but I hope to chronicle our family’s attempt to start our own version of an urban homestead, on this little piece of land God has given us for now. Our goal is to become as self-sufficient as possible with the space that we have.
These gals are really going to help us achieve that dream when they get a little older. The first two ducks on the left are Indian Runner ducklings. Sassafras or “Sassy” is a faun and white Runner and Cheetah is a blue Runner. The next two ducklings, Meiling and Bacon, are Khaki Campbells. We researched these breeds quite a bit before we ordered them. The Runners lay between 200 to 300 eggs per year on average and the Khakis lay 365 eggs per year each. We hope to increase our little flock of birds over time, but right now we thought we would start with 4 and see how that goes.
So far it has been pretty smooth sailing, but as they grow bigger I am hoping that the temperatures stay warmer outside so that we can transition them out of our laundry room and into their outside pen more easily. They are quite messy and outside is a very good place for messy animals. They may be cute, but they poop a lot for such little creatures!
In the near future I hope to get a post up about our garden as well. Things are growing and growing and we have even been able to harvest some basil already! Stay tuned!
