Saturday night it was raining and a good night to catch all the birds roosting in the barn.  Well I didn't want to catch all of them, just some for two people coming on Sunday to get them.  A neighbor wanted my two hen guineas and I was glad to sell them.  Those buggers proved very hard to catch even though they were shut in the hen coop and it was pretty dark.  He also wanted a pretty young Ameraucana rooster I had and that bird had to perch on the highest spot in the back of the barn.  I had to push him off the roost with a broom because I couldn't reach him.

I also caught up some older hens for someone.  Those weren't too hard to catch.  I had both sets of birds in cages overnight in the front part of the barn.  Of course both people were later than they told me they'd come on Sunday.  The woman for the hens was 3 hours late.  They laid eggs in the cage so she could see they were still laying..

That leaves me with 14 hens, some older ones along with the new pullets and we should still have plenty of eggs.  I am picking up 8-9 every day but I think the 2 Jersey Giants haven't started laying yet.  We eat eggs every morning and the cats and dogs get them often too.

The little porclein bantams have started laying- or at least some hen in that group is laying.  There are two tiny hens, breed unknown with the porclein pair.  They don't seem interested in sitting on the eggs, at least not yet.

The mama duck with the youngest babies has been taking then to the pond everyday and keeping them there most of the day.  All 8 are still alive even though one gets left behind at the barn every so often and goes around peeping for awhile.  They always seem to get re-unitied.  But this morning all the baby ducks were at the eddge of the barnyard when I went out to feed with no mama in sight.  They were just sitting in the sun.  I hope she turns up.  I didn't go out to look at the pond but it seemed odd that the babies were all the way up by the barnyard without her.

We still have 9 of the older baby ducks left.  The three I thought might be lilac colored are getting very odd looking.  The underdown seems gray or lilac but the wing feathers look like they are coming in black barred. ( see picture)  I don't know whether I want to try and sell this bunch or save them for eating.  Either way they need to be gone by true winter.  And I still have one duck sitting on eggs.

The mud around the water pan out there is very slippery and I have been trying not to walk in it as I am afraid of falling out there where no one can see me.  The worst part of ducks is the mess they make with water.  I don't want to over winter more than 5-6.

I have an idea.  I will vote for the presidential candidate that has ducks.  Hmmm - which will it be?