Market Day

Yesterday I took my ducklings to the flea market.

As you can imagine, catching them is the hardest part. Momma duck needs to be removed first. Otherwise she is after my ankles while I'm trying to scoop the babies up in a net. A large goldfish net works best for peepers. It adds a foot to my reach.

We have a heavy duty net that I made up one week for the bigger birds. I used jute strings and knotted them together. It took a week, but it saves me HOURS of chasing and wrangling poultry. Untangling the thrashing bird is a pain, but hey, I don't have to throw myself on them.

It is always interesting to talk to the people I meet there. Always entertaining to watch little kids pet a duck for the first time.

I took twenty-eight ducklings to market and sold sixteen – the dozen I brought home are now in chicken world where they have a swimming pool. The momma ducks fought over the babies – Brownie won yet again. She is now the caretaker of the mixed flock of little ones.

That means that the other two hen ducks will be setting on eggs in a couple of weeks. There will be another batch of babies in August. I can speed up the process if I take them to market while they still need brooding. But why? Three batches of ducklings a year are plenty.

Meanwhile there are strawberries to pick. The mints are ready to harvest. The iris need thinned and the horses need ridden. There are eleven Dominque pullets in chicken world, growing quickly and getting bigger every day. Spring we will be drowning in little brown eggs.

As home-maven and ex-con Martha Stewart says: That's a good thing.