Do you like surprises? Some surprises can be exciting and fun while others are quite disappointing or maybe even sad. We had a BIG surprise when our most recent group of chicks arrived. It wasn't really fun or sad. I would say that it was just...very surprising!!
Recently we received our second group of 500 chicks for the summer. Chicks coming in the mail is no big deal to us. We do it all the time. Over the past 20+ years, we have gotten thousands of day-old chicks in the mail. However, this time things were a bit different. When we opened the first box, we were shocked to find ducks mixed with the chicks.
My first thoughts were “Oh my, what if every box is filled with ducks? What in the world will we do with them? We won’t be able to fill our chicken orders for the fall.” It is amazing how many crazy thoughts can pass through your mind in just a few seconds.
We had a few ducks in the past and they were cute and funny, but very messy. After a few months we ended up giving them to a family who had a pond which is a much better life for a duck then our pond-less farm.
We quickly began opening and unloading the other 7 boxes of chicks. We held our breath as we lifted the lid from each box fearful that we would find more ducks. What a relief to find only chicks!
Once we had all of the chicks out of the boxes and contently eating, drinking, or running helter-skelter as only chicks can do, we turned our attention to the ducks. There were 7 ducks in the box! They couldn’t be sent back to the hatchery!
They were so cute, but there was no way they could stay on our farm.We hurriedly called our egg producer since we knew he had recently began raising ducks. He graciously agreed to take them off our hands.
Now the story gets even more interesting! Dan calls our hatchery and explains that we had 7 random ducks mixed in with our chick shipment. The hatchery owner was flabbergasted. He only hatches Cornish cross chicks and had packed our order himself. On a side note, he is the second generation to own this hatchery so he knows the difference between a chick and a duckling.
After thinking for a minute, he speculated that the ducks must have been on the same mail truck as the chicks when damage to the duck box occurred setting ducks loose in the truck. A postal employee probably shoved the ducks in the nearest box which happened to be our box of chicks.
Of course, that is just a theory! We still have no idea how those ducks ended up with our chicks, but it does make a good story! It appears that it will remain a mystery unless the chickens or ducks give us the details.
Coincidentally I was planning to show our customers the new chicks in a video. That meant I had a video camera in my hand when we opened that first box so you can see our reactions in the video below. It is quite entertaining!
Well, that is one of the biggest surprises I’ve had for quite a while. I'd love to hear about a few of the best surprises that have happened in your life.