Dorian is finally just about finished molting.


This was him about 2 weeks ago. (and the pile below has grown exponentially since then)

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Our duckling order arrived today!! We went down to the post office this morning to pick them up.


Two female Cayugas, and two female blue Indian Runner ducks. All to keep Dorian company, and hopefully to sell some duck eggs too. Runners and Cayugas are supposedly much more homebodies of the duck world, so cross your fingers that they don"t wander off.

Right now they're in a brooder next to the (rapidly-growing) chicks.

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...from just before Easter...

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From several weeks ago...

It's gotten a little bit colder again since then, but our peas are germinating well despite it. There are a few of the drying beans coming up now as well. Nothing yet from the kale, lettuce, carrots and radishes we planted two weekend ago though.

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On Saturday (busy day, right?) we picked up some new chicks...

6 pullets (we're guessing Red Stars, as that's what they turned out to be last year).


...and 2 straight runs. We're hoping for a rooster, so the chickens will stop ranging quite so far...
I don't have a good picture, but there's one white one (straight run---we got all Red Stars for our pullets this time) with dark wing feathers. I'm pretty sure that the hens of both White Rocks and Red Stars don't have that...and since those are the two kinds they had last year...here's hoping he's a rooster.

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On Saturday, we cleaned out the chicken coop.

Essential equipment:



We filled up 4 cart loads, and afterwards the coop was nice and clean:



Then we took them down to the veggie garden....



Where S. tilled them in. On monday, we planted our beans, peas, and broccoli (more details on what and where later). Yay--we have veggies in the ground :-)

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Spring has sprung....

and Happy Easter!

We picked these chicks up from TSC yesterday. 6 pullets and 2 straight runs
(are hoping for one rooster so he'll keep the flock from ranging quite so far...)

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