New Babies!

     About 3 weeks ago I ordered 5 indian runner ducks, and 7 black sumatra bantams, yesterday morning they arrived at the post office. Me and Dad were there as soon as they opened at 8:30.  I think the post office was as glad to see them go as we were to get them, they were noisy. The hatchery included 1 extra sumatra and 5 filler chicks, all of them were healthy and lively.



We put them in a box with a heat lamp when we got home.







The ducklings were trying to hold their heads up while they slept because the chicks who were not sleeping thought they had something on their beak and kept pecking at them.






Indian runner duckling, notice the upright position, because their legs are farther back than other breeds of ducks.
 Runner ducks don't waddle, they run, and these babies are fast.



Filler chick, Ideal Poltry includes some extra male chicks of a random breed to help keep your chicks warm if you don't order enough.            
 I'm guessing these are probably New Hampshire Reds. 

One of my bantam Black Sumatras. Sumatras come from the island of Sumatra.  The bantams were bred so they are perfect miniatures of the standard Sumatras. Sumatras have yellow skin, but they also have dark faces, they have black iredesant feathers and very long tails which they carry horizontal like pheasants instead of vertical like most chickens do. They are also known for multiple spurs on the males sometimes up to 7 on on leg, but the more spurs they have, smaller the spurs.

    I put the chicks under a hen last night, I tried to put the ducklings under her but they wouldn't stay. They kept running away, so I had to bring them back in.  The chicks are doing realy well with the hen, she sits on the nest, and they run out and eat and run back under her.  She is a white bearded silkie. One of my other silkie hens hatched and raised her last year. She is about 6 months old, and this is her first time going broody. I named her Monster when she was small because she reminds me of a cartoon snow monster.

She looks like a large snow ball when she fluffs all her feathers up.

See those neck feathers? She is telling me to go away!



Little red had to come out and see what I was doing.



Now he runs back to mama.