chicks

Ok, yes, these are ducks, not chickens. I feel bad about it, but I have been spending more time with the two ducks Ian and I got than the 13 chickens. Many of the chickens (chicks still, at 7 weeks?) are cute, and sweet, but they're harder to love. I don't know if it's the rubbery bill, or the floppy feet, or the plaintive quack, but everything the ducks do cracks me up. They love water. From the beginning, they dominated the shared waterer, splashing as much as they sipped; we made them a separate brooder to let the chicks drink in peace. Last night we gave them a tray of water. They drank it, waded into it, and within five minutes, immersed themselves completely. They are completely ridiculous.
I don't consider myself settled enough for pets -- I wouldn't even consider getting a dog -- but I heard an ad on the radio this spring for chicks at the Alaska Feed Company and suddenly wanted chicks. Ian's been wanting them for years. The ducks were just too cute to pass up. The ducks and a few of the chickens are straight run (unsexed), so we'll probably end up with some roosters and a drake, but the idea is to get eggs, ideally through the winter. 
Most people here try to make chickens pay -- they piece together a coop with scrap materials and consider the cost-per-egg after coop-building, feeding, and heating. We're taking a different approach. I wanted to try a passive-solar thermal mass building technique, and Ian was game. So our coop will be timber-framed, super-tight, well-ventilated, and heated in part (I hope) by a pile of hot rocks. 
First eggs should come in September. If the Cayuga (the black duck) is a hen, she will lay black eggs.