What’s new with the critters of Bees N Blooms
What’s not to love about animals? Here at Bees N Blooms, we not only provide a healthy ecosystem for the wild and native species, we also integrate some domesticated animals into our farm family. Chickens, ducks, and Cotton-Patch Geese live here, assisting with our Integrated Pest Management Program (aka – happily grazing upon slugs, bugs, and weeds). They also provide a never ending dose of entertainment and joy for visitors. We love our feathered friends and honor their place on the farm by highlighting them this week in our blog. (Make sure to click on each photo to enlarge it)
Lucky Duck and Baby Swallows
To start, it’s important to note that we have two wild, undomesticated species that consider themselves part of the family: a wild mallard duck named Lucky, and many nesting swallows! Lucky Duck came to BNB in the hands of our farm manager, Seth, as he was on his way to work at the farm during Farm Trails weekend. He noticed a small baby duck walking alone across the road at an intersection! He had been separated from his family and was lost. Seth picked the baby up and brought him here where he was raised with baby chicks the same size, and close in age. Lucky grew up with his flock of chickens, learning what made him different along the way. One day, he flew up and around the farm, perhaps considering leaving, but decided to call this place Home. He’s been living here ever since that magical day.
The swallows have been nesting in the chicken coop and under the roof of the house on the property. They create nests every year here. Recently, babies hatched from a nest near the house, where we are able to see closely into the nest without interfering with their natural process. Below are some adorable pictures of the babies! It looks like they are singing in an opera.
Enter In, The Geese!
This year, our three Cotton Patch geese, Angel, Honey and Ella had babies! We got them last year as young goslings, and now they are having babies of their own! It has been such a joy to watch them grow up and reproduce. We weren’t sure how good they would be at incubating and hatching out the eggs, so we incubated two batches of the eggs and let them sit on the rest. In the first batch, we were able to hatch Max and May, and in the 2nd round Pip, Squeek and Charlie, plus two females that we gave to Garden Valley Ranch in Petaluma. The geese themselves hatched out only one, Miss Lulu, the most spoiled gosling of all, having not just one, but TWO mothers and a very attentive dad.
The Cotton Patch Goose is an American heritage breed of goose that was once a commonplace fixture on farms, especially in the Southeast where they were used to keep the weeds down in cotton fields. They are now rare on farms, and the Livestock Conservancy notes that they are in need of serious conservation breeders to maintain the breed. The males and females of this breed are identifiable from each other by appearance. The ganders (males) are generally white with some grey depending on their designation as pied (saddleback) or solids. The females exhibit the pied or solid patterns with varying shades of dove grey and white. Bills and feet are pink, not orange. There are subtle variations from strain to strain in size, head shape, etc., but all are easily identifiable as the same breed, smaller than other domestic geese.
Poultry Paradise
The chickens make up the majority of the population, comprising four different groups that have integrated together to build our poultry pack. These are some of the different breeds that we have: Black Sex-Link, White Plymouth Rock, Americauna, Gold Sex-Link, Silver-laced Wyandotte, Speckled Sussex, Copper Maran, Black Australorps, Olive Egger, and Barred Rock. Excitingly, one of the Copper Maran hens decided she wanted to be a mother last year, brooding on her eggs for five weeks hoping for hatch. Since we don’t have a rooster, it was not going to happen. We decided to buy some day-old chicks and sneakily place them under her in the night, mimicking hatchlings from the eggs she had been sitting on for so long. This year, we did it again with a new round of chicks, after the normal gestation period of 21 days. She’s a wonderful mother hen, taking them under her wing and protecting them from the other birds in the pen.
Duck Pest Managers
The ducks on the farm are our #1 pest managers. We let them out during the day to hunt for snails and slugs – these are their favorite treats and they find them without damaging our garden and flower beds. We also have two separate batches of ducks, the first batch we received at the farm are White Pekin, plus one male Indian Runner. Until recently, many of the white ducks have been retiring, so we got a second batch last year. These younger ones are a mixture of breeds: Indian Runner, Swedish Crested, and Cayuga. They are always entertaining visitors with their antics in the pool.
Father’s Day – The Place to Bee
Come out and visit the farm for Father’s Day this Sunday! Bring the family, a picnic, hats, and your curiosity. Check out these critters of the farm, and so much more! Also, be sure to stop by the farm stand to browse our plant, flower, lavender and gift selections. We have eggs from our chickens and ducks, and several chicken-themed gifts for your favorite chicken whisperer! Hope to see you on the farm!
Here is a video of the baby geese exploring the farm:
Excellent writing as always, Caitlyn. Mary Wickwire