These cuties have come to the farm to work! They are Runner Ducks – voracious foragers. Unlike chickens, who love the vegetables, these guys are some bug hunting, bug eating, workers! And I will be talking to them specifically about snails! Runner Ducks are sometimes called Penguin ducks. They will not waddle (although I must say, they are TOTALLY awkward now: they look like they’re trying to walk with flippers on! Imagine!). These guys will stand upright and mostly run. Run right after those snails, I’m hoping!

These guys came in the mail. That’s always so strange to me. Last time, we picked up the chickens at the post office. But the mailman brought these babies right to our door. So I guess they’d been riding around in the mail truck talking to the postmaster for a while. Amazing. But the real surprise, if you will notice, are the pointed beaks on some of these ducks. Huh? No bill? Wait, those aren’t ducks! So here’s the deal: Poultry People just don’t know what to do with all the roosters that hatch that no one wants. There are actually some truly horrific poultry stories that abound about what happens to unwanted rooster chicks. But in this case, FIVE roosters were packed with the ducks to “keep them warm.” Hmm.

So I’m wondering if the ducks will grow up thinking they’re chickens? or the chickens will think they’re ducks?  And what will the pecking order be?  Do chickens swim?