Tomorrow is our hatch and ship date for our box of mystery chicks. I've been watching their availability list, and noticed that as of today they've removed all ducks from the available list. This means they've filled their quota for the amount of eggs they've got in the incubator. This doesn't mean there won't be any extras. They put more eggs in the incubator than are ordered, because not all of them will result in a successful hatching. It just means they're not likely to have a lot of extras, and my odds of getting a duckling (or two) in our box is slim.
I've been watching the varieties of chicks coming in other peoples' boxes through the identification group. They're getting a good wide assortment of colorful chicks, including some interesting rare ones. I guess I just don't want another Rhode Island Red rooster (what Big Red is) or another Barred Rock hen (what Henrietta is), because I want to be able to easily identify my older birds out of the flock. I also am dreading getting some really amazing rare breed rooster - because the agreement was that I get the big box of mystery birds, and at the end of the summer, all of the new roosters get processed to eat over the winter. If I keep a new rooster, I have to get rid of an older rooster. Phil is a sweetheart and I love him, and Big Red has been doing an excellent job of predator protection for the other two - and accepting Phil, despite him being another rooster. But at the same time, some of the breeds this hatchery offers are just plain gorgeous. The website says they average 75% female and 25% male in the mystery boxes, so maybe I will hit the lottery and only get plain ugly males, and pretty females. I don't know. As long as they're good egg layers and winter hardy, they're welcome to stay. I'm not so interested in the purely decorative ones.
I was watching Iron Chef Gauntlet last night and got so excited. Last fall we processed one of our silkie roosters. He was a bully and needed to go. We had the hardest time with it. Everything took way longer than it should have, everything that should have been simple had extra steps, and then when I cooked it, it was horrible. So I vowed never to process chicken again. On this particular episode of Iron Chef, "black silkie" was one of the cooking options, and they discussed how hard it is to cook with because it's so tough. The chef fried it, then pickled it in an attempt to make it more palatable. I had no idea that silkie was different than other chicken and here the whole time had thought I had done something horribly wrong with it. Nope. I feel so much better about that experience now! We may end up processing birds in the future, but probably not this lot... Taking one out of the flock due to issues is completely different than processing 10+ birds in a day to fill the freezer.
Baby bunnies should also be arriving this week. I think the colony rabbits already have babies, but they've dug a burrow, so I don't know for sure. The planned breeding litters should be here Tuesday. We could have our hands full between chicks and bunnies from here on out! I'm looking forward to it!