River Ridge Farm

Who knew they were such tricksters down at the hatchery?  I got a phone call today letting me know that my 40 chicks had arrived and I needed to pick them up TODAY.  They weren't supposed to arrive until the 14th!  :grumble:

So I drop everything, totally screwing up my day, try to get the brooder situation up and running and ready for them all.  I decide to bag the idea of sending Ivy to Kindergarten, and just take her with me.  We head over to McMinnville (an hour drive) and when we get there I find that there are DUCKLINGS!!! I have been trying so hard to get my hands on some ducks!  I have two very lonely drakes who chase my hens, and no one seems to have female ducks.  Poultry chicks of all kinds are selling like hotcakes with the economy screwed up like it is.  All the hatcheries aren't taking personal orders till May, and the ones arriving at the McMinnville store are being snatched up the day they come in.  I was trying to get some fertile duck eggs in hopes that Guenevere would incubate them with her goose eggs.  But I got lucky!

By the way, ducklings are quite possibly the most adorable thing on the planet.  I grabbed 4 pekin, 4 cayugan (??) and 4 khaki (??)  Yeah, I don't even know what these breeds are!  I need to do some research now.  But I have DUCKLINGS!  Squeee!!

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OK, so I've done a bit o' research.

The Pekin duck is your basic white duck.  Think: "Aflac!" or Donald Duck.  They are often considered meat ducks, but are decent layers as well.




Cayuga ducks have dark feathers with a green sheen:



They are also considered "dual purpose".  (Eggs and meat)

Khaki Campbell ducks are supposed to be fantastic layers: