Week Two

The babies are growing fast! At 9 days, they've nearly tripled in size. At first, this was surprising, and then I realized all they do is eat and sleep. And they've been doing both (especially the former) a lot. And I take back everything I said about them being soft at 3 days old. Their down is super fluffy and almost as soft as rabbit fur now.

Best of all, they've started recognizing my voice. When I bring them their greens, I call out to them while I'm approaching their house. It's amazing to hear their little feet scrambling over the bedding and rustling toward the feeding door.

Sitting Pretty

The Other "Pets"

I love that these guys (girls?) live in our backyard.

Real pets and er...poultry pictures coming tomorrow. 

Salt lick coming soon.

Week One--Updated!

 It's a little late, but here are the pictures from arrival day! In the words of Mr. Bee to his students, "And now I will melt your face with cuteness."

Here they are, 3 days old:

 Update: Mr. Bee took this super-sweet video one night when they were *trying* to sleep.

 

 Eating, drinking and sleeping are the primary activities of our babies.

What's in your mailbox?

This is what we got in the mail a little less than a week ago.
14 ducks in total (they threw in an extra khaki campbell).

Make sure your sound is on for the full experience!

I don't think I will clutter this posts with many more words.

We'll have weekly photo updates so check back often. 

Go ahead, just hit "replay."

You know you want to.

 :)

Nesting.

The majority of our flock hatched yesterday. The remaining few will have tapped their way out of their shells this morning. They are all set to arrive Wednesday morning after a long but exciting journey.

I have never had kids before, so I can only imagine what it is like to expect the arrival of another human, whether through physical birth or another way, to complete your family. All I know is that the arrival of our baby duckies is a very exciting and emotional time! Mr Bee's been hard at work designing and building the DuckMahal (actual pictures to follow). I keep feeling the need to clean the house, do all the laundry, and make lots of food so we can be "ready."  We oscillate between anxiety and eagerness.

What if one dies in the shipping process? What if our straight run ends up being all boys? What if we are well-meaning but terrible ducky parents and produce miserable poultry? What if this becomes our biggest homestead fail of all time?

Mr. Bee isn't his usual calm self either. There's something so exciting and scary about fulfilling a life-long dream. We keep looking around and saying to each other, "Can you believe we are making this happen?"

Hardly. I'll believe it when I see it.

But for right now, Wednesday is too soon and too far away, and most certainly, never coming.

On Unpacking & Sorting

Moving has a way of making you realize how much stuff you've been carrying around. We all have stuff. You know what I am talking about. Things have a way of piling up over the years. Gifts from family, hand-me-downs from friends and neighbors, things you picked out yourself and brought along for the journey--It's all there, with all it's weight and bulk, when you move.

Pardon blurry cell-phone picture.