Hatchery Babies!

Last fall I became determined to get ducks. My mother was raised eating duck eggs and boasted about their awesome flavor. Most hatchery's stop selling ducklings in the beginning of summer, I thought about getting full grown ducks instead but I really wanted to start with ducklings, so that meant waiting  a few months. I spent those months looking into different Hatcheries and birds, trying to find the right breeds and the right Hatchery for what I wanted. I decided Cackle Hatchery was the best for my order.

As the months passed, I realized the list of birds I wanted was getting longer.  I needed a few new pullets  to replace my old laying hens, I wanted more boiler chickens this year, and oh, why not get a turkey to raise for thanksgiving dinner? And hey, they have a special where I can get geese too!

What started out as a few ducks turned into 10 Easter Egger pullets, 5 Welsummer pullets, 6 Khaki Campbell females, 1 Khaki Campbell Male and a Happy Cackle Special. I was definitely going to have my hands full.
I should mention that the most amount of chickens I've ever owned at one time was 26 and if I added my current layers, the month old chickens form Wilco and the hatchery order, it would put me over 70 birds. What can I say? I got a little excited.

While I waited for my Hatchery chicks to arrive I finished reading my poultry raising books and started setting up brooders and outdoor pens for all of them, I had a lot to get done. I have raised chicks before but never this many at once and I had never raised ducks and geese, let alone a turkey!

The 3rd week of May came, I warned the post office early in the week that I was expecting chicks. Bright and early on Friday the 23rd I got the call, they had arrived!

 I hadn't yet had my morning coffee when I rushed to our little post office. As soon as I entered the building I could hear them cheeping through the wall dividing us.

I couldn't believe all of them fit in this box and when I opened it to inspect them, I was reminded how small they all were.

The amount of cute inside this box was undeniable, the gosling and turkeys were the most curious, while the rest tried to hide in corners, often piling onto one another. I quickly took them home to their awaiting brooders.

The chicks brooder was made with pallets cut in half, nailed together in a box shape and lined with cardboard before getting filled with pine shavings. The size of this brooder would hold them for a few weeks while I finished with the other enclosure. All but one little chick survived the trip, he/she was a little black with white top polish. The hatchery had planned ahead though and given me two extra chicks from what I ordered.

This is one of the black with white top polish (I like to call them top hats), I got three of these guys (including the one that didn't make it). They were the easy ones to identify with their puff of down on their heads.

This is another top hat, its a golden laced polish. They were the cutest to interact with,  always posing for the camera.

Part of the fun of having the Cackle Special was guessing what breeds of chickens I got. In this photo a little top hat is drinking while a yellow chick watches the camera (I believe this yellow chick is one of my light Brahmas)

I spent hours watching these guys, trying to narrow down breeds they could be. In the special it gives you 10 brown laying pullets, 1 rooster, and 10 assorted chicks from their Rare chicken breeds. I'll let you see if you can figure out what breeds I have.

All of these photos are from the first week of there arrival, so in some photos they are more feathered then others.

My goslings are also a mystery as to what breed they are, but the hatchery only has 4 kinds, and based on their coloring they are either the Toulouse or African Grey geese. I'm hoping to make these guys people friendly so I can keep them for flock protection, but if they get aggressive they will become dinner. The little one pictured is the male, the hatchery color coded the male ducklings and gosling so that's why he has an orange stripe on his head.

Here's a mystery breed duck from the special. I think he's a Peaking because of his coloring. Him and his female buddy are going to be meat ducks. It's hard to think about it when they are so small and fluffy like this, it's a good thing they don't stay this cute forever.

The ducklings and goslings checking out their new home. I thought I would fawn over those ducklings,  they where the reason I got this order int he first place, but those gosling stole my heart. I take them out everyday for special attention so they get used to people.

The Turkeys! Also a surprise on what breed but  I'm thinking they are the Blue slate turkeys. The hatchery sent me an extra one, so this trio settling in. I was amazed at how calm and nice the turkeys were, they would take turns curling up onto my hand when I came to visit them and were always wondering what I was doing.

The chickens brooder was set up in out pump house while the ducklings and turkeys were set up in the upstairs of my house. I could here their happy chips while watching TV downstairs. It will be exciting watching these guys grow up!