I was getting ready to go pick a little bluegrass at a nursing home with a couple of old band mates and a few new pickin’ friends, when Jessy hollars out from the kitchen, LOOK AT THE DUCKS! And sure enough, out my office window was a Momma wild duck and her 12 BIG babies! They were waddling through the grass and heading for the dog yard! The dogs were in, so it was okay, and Jessy got a few shots of them before and after going into the yard! I think it was a Teal duck, definitely not a mallard! They were adorable!

Then Maggie comes in from checking on the hens and turkeys and says that one of the babies is out of the turkey jail! OH NO! I wanted them to stay in their little safe house for a few more days, just to make sure they really knew where the food and water was and that they liked us and all that! I just wasn’t sure if they would be as easy to take care of like the chickens.

Well, I decided that it must be time to have a little faith and to let them out. After all, I never intended on keeping them locked up their whole lives, and I just needed to say, well, it’s time and the worse thing is that they will go wild and there goes my $25. Everything I read pointed to the fact that they would come home at night, but they are so young… I dunno… I was just a little worried but I gave the executive decision to open up a bit of their turkey jail and see what happens.

They did fine at first, just cautiously pecking around the big barn and trying to stay out of the way of the crabby hens. Actually the hens did fine, really pretending not to even notice the little poults for the most part. Eventually, the girls decided that they wanted a personal tour of the turkey zoo enclosure, and then, it ended up as the chicken zoo!!!

The turkeys were pretty messy with their feed, so the hens did a nice job of cleaning it up for them. Children! Honestly!

Well, I was getting close to late, so I gave the girls a few marching orders and then headed out to the gig. It was so nice to play with everyone, we actually were fairly tolerable! I had a nice time, and it’s always nice to play for seniors. They clap and enjoy the singing and it’s just a nice feeling all the way around. The people that ran the home were super nice and it was just lovely.

Well, headed back, and had invited Jeff over for a visit and dinner, the fellow I play with in my band, he’s the bass player and my cohort in songwriting and such, oh yeah, he’s also our realtor! (gg) I always like when he can come over because he saw the place a LONG time about, back in January and is really our best barometer as to how things are coming along. And I really wanted him to meet our flock!

Maggie tells me quickly that the turkeys are gone. Flown the coop. On the run. DISAPPEARED!!! Oh no! The little dorks were GONE!!!

Oh! Well, we went out to meet the chickens and I think Jeff was pleasantly amused by their antics and such. And they laid us 9 eggs!!! Wow… He got to feed them crackers and sweet peas, which they love equally well, and then we went on a little walk of the back fields to see if we might spot the little runaways.

No such luck, they were gone. I was sad, but trying to not show it. Kind of felt like a bad farmer girl. My little babies were out in the cold harsh world, alone and without the shelter of the big barn. It was heartbreaking.

But as luck would have it, as we were sitting in the screen porch waiting on dinner and sampling a few Moby homebrews, Jeff sees something out by the barn and sure enough… it was the wayward turkeys returning from a big expedition in the west field! Yeah!!! We walked back there and sure enough, all five were fit as a fiddle and peeping and walking about right near the barn door!! I went and got some crack corn to reward them and to help build the association that barn and crazy woman mean food! They got it!

Later on, they were all in the big barn with the chickens as the hens started to settle in and find their roosts. The little poults just basically wandered around a bit and then all scampered back into their turkey zoo! They KNEW THEIR HOME!!!! It was such a good day!!!! And one of the hens had laid another egg!!! It was a 10 egg day! And that is a special day.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve only had our flock for a month now, they are just so much of our lives! And the babies in the incubator, well, I think they are doing fine. We have been watching the temps and humidity, and moving them and just making sure nothing bothers them at all. We are on day 8. 10 more days until we stop moving them and then a couple days after before they hatch. Hopefully!!! We’re going to try and candle them tomorrow with a super strong LED flashlight in a dark room. At this point, we should see a dark little mass in the ones that are growing. Not huge, but something. I hope so!! I would so love to have a little batch of Bucka Roo babies!!!

Well, that’s the day today… just a super wonderful day all the way around…

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