So, after making the duck post I went out to do chores and between getting Tiff off to school (this is my last week of doing that, ever. *freak out moment*) and chore time... Nutmeg had her kids.
Daddy is my mini fainter, mama is a registered Toggenburg. The babies are TINY. Much tinier than I am used to. But I finally got multiples, lol. Two girls. I have no use for them in my breeding/milking/meat plans so i will offer them for sale at pet prices when they are old enough to wean.
One of the babies is much bigger, more coordinated, more active than the other. The smaller one seems to be developmentally 3 to 5 days behind the other, but is alert and has a good strong suckling reflex. She'll catch up, once she gets her feet under her.
I've been thawing out some of the colostrum I saved from Sage and I give her an ounce or so of that and then help her to her feet and steady her while she nurses. She was knuckling over at first but i finally getting her feet up the way they belong.
Chick days at Tractor Supply. I figured since we already had some chicks in the kitchen I would snag Tsu two ducklings to tide him over until I could hatch some myself. he is always so "suppor-tolarent" of my farming thing that I am inclined to indulge the one thing he has wanted since this all started: ducks.
So... He wants Indian Runner ducks. I describe these as "Bowling Pins with Bills". Keeping in mind that a lot of our farming/pet choices are made by asking ourselves "what will benefit the farm and also make us laugh until we pee our pants?" the choice of Runner ducks is obvious.
They come in a variety of colours from solid white to black with an iridescent green sheen. According to the Indian Runner Duck Association (yes, that is real, I didn't make it up. *grin*):
Indian Runners are a very special breed of domestic duck. When
they were imported into Europe they
attracted attention because of their tall, upright bodies and their
incredible reputation for egg-laying. They had been found in the
East Indies, from where they get their present name, but were
referred to as ‘Penguin Ducks’ by Dutch explorers and some of the
early importers.
And according to Wikipedia:
Indian Runners are an unusual breed of domestic duck. They stand erect like penguins
and, rather than waddling, they run. The females usually lay about 150 –
200 eggs a year or more, depending whether they are from exhibition or
utility strains. They were found on the Indonesian Islands of Lombok, Java and Bali
where they were 'walked' to market and sold as egg-layers or for meat.
These ducks do not fly and only rarely form nests and incubate their own
eggs. They run or walk, often dropping their eggs wherever they happen
to be. Duck-breeders need to house their birds over night or be
extremely vigilant in picking up the eggs to prevent them from being
taken by other animals. Keeping the birds in sheds until well after dawn
is reportedly the best solution.
The ducks vary in weight between 1.4 and 2.3 kg (3-5 lbs). Their
height (from crown to tail tip) ranges from 50 cm (20 inches) in small
females to about 76 cm (30 inches) in the taller males. The eggs are
often greenish-white in color, but these too vary.
Indian Runners love foraging. They also like swimming in ponds and
streams, but they are likely to be preoccupied in running around grassy
meadows looking for worms, slugs, even catching flies.
The eggs and foraging for bugs (they are a very active duck, and are fantastic at bug hunting, as all ducks are) are the "farm" reason for having them. Laughter is the real reason, though.
This is what they could look like when they are grown:
Now ours are just hatchery ducks from Tractor Supply, So they won't be super high quality and super "upright", but we don't need that anyway. They were marked down because they had been there a week already and the new shipment comes in today. I figured they would just have some Pekins and planned to get two to make the Mister happy.... Pekin ducks are the standard white duck most folks are used to seeing.
So.... I almost "squeeee"ed out loud when I heard they had Runner ducks. We ended up with two Pekins and four Runners for what I had planned to spend on just the two Pekins. They are rooming temporarily with the chicks I hatched.
No clue what colour they will be, one has a darker bill than the others, and at least three of the runners seem to have pattern starting to show on their foreheads.
