Ducks, hens and the new rooster

 Just before Easter

I bought

6 chicks and 2 ducklings.  Babies are so cute!  Here is a picture of them in the pool where they used to live when they first arrived at our house.

Fast forward  a few weeks and... oh my how they have grown!  When I brought them home, I left them in the car while I got the pool ready for them.  My husband went to get the 50 lb. bag of food and left the back door of the suzuki open while he brought the bag around to the hen house.  Our little min-pin must have heard some peeps and by the time I got there she had killed 3 birds.  Originally I had purchased 3 white and 3 black.  Now I was down to 2 black and 1 white and very sad about what had happened.

A few days later I went back to town to get 3 more chicks.  They no longer had white chicks, so I got 3 tiny little red chicks.  Even after just a few days my little birds had formed a tight bond and were not too friendly  to the new "peeps" I had added to their group.  Once again fast forward a little more and they are still growing like weeds!

 

You would think that a duck would want to get in the water when he has his very own pool, but not this one.  Here Riley tries to show him how much fun it is.  Maybe he's remembering that he actually grew up in this pool and thinks his home is now flooded.  This is the first day outside of the hen house and the temperature might be a little colder than he likes.  Both ducks like to play in the water now, but they prefer when I turn on the sprinkler. 

Now it has been 2 months and the ducks appear to be full grown.  The chickens may get a little bigger, but they seem to have all of their adult feathers.  It's funny how much personality a bird can have.  We love to watch the things they do and the way they interact with each other and the humans.  On memorial day my daughter found someone on facebook that was looking for a home for their rooster.  He was just learning how to crow and was making this pitiful screeching sound every morning.  It was only a matter of time before the neighbors started to complain.  Now this little guy was purchased at the same time from the same place as my birds.  I figured that he would fit right in.  I hoped that he didn't realize what that delicious smell filling the car actually was on the ride home.  You see, I had purchased our dinner on the trip to pick him up.  FRIED CHICKEN was on our dinner menu!  He seemed pretty calm in spite of it all.  When we got home I put the pet carrier with him inside of it into the chicken run.  He saw all those beautiful girls and desperately wanted out of the carrier.  I think he thought he was in chicken heaven and he (being the only guy) could rule the roost.  It would probably be chicken love at first sight.  So I opened the door.  I believe that being locked up together for most of their little lives, this group had developed a gang mentality.  They immediately ran for him and attacked!  Even the ducks charged him!!!  They chased him around and around the chicken yard!  I had to catch him, soothe him and seperate him from the others.  They must have come to some kind of a settlement after sleeping together in the hen house that night, because although he isn't being mistreated now, they aren't trying to beat him up all the time.  That's a good thing because I have quilting to do and don't have time to referee these little feathered friends.

This is a good example of how small this guy is compared to the ducks.

He pretty much keeps to himself.  I don't blame him!