handle with care

[asakiyume]

I arrived at the post office today as a postal worker was bringing a wide, low rectangular box out to a car. The box had holes, and I could hear peeping. As we both walked into the building, I asked, "Were those chicks?" And indeed they were.

The post office was very quiet at that time of day--except for cheeping and peeping! From the back room.

"I know I can't go back there," I said, "But can you take my phone back and take pictures?"

Well, he did better than that. He brought out a box of ducklings...



and then came a box of chicks!



"I guess these are all spoken for," I said wistfully.

"No, they're mainly going to tractor supply stores," he said.

But even though B'town is a right-to-farm community, I live in a neighborhood with a homeowner's association, and sadly, poultry is not allowed. We talked about backyard chickens, the price of eggs and the cost of feed, and homeowners associations.

I love my post office and the USPS generally. [That is your veiled political commentary for the day]

Comments

[cmcmck]

Awwww! :o)

[asakiyume]

sweeties ^_^

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

One of the things people need is the right to meet their own survival needs, in this case, the right to grow their own food. It is increasingly banned in the places where people live, and that's a problem. When the vast majority live in urban areas, banning food production there runs up the hunger rate.

HOAs are generally human-hostile, Earth-hostile, and cause a lot of other problems. Helpful things they routinely ban include leaving lawns unwatered, leaving lawns unmowed, replacing exotic grass with native plants, replacing exotic grass with a xericulture landscape, and drying laundry on a clothesline -- all things that would help both the biosphere and humans. The exact things people are encouraged to do in the face of climate change.

Re: Thoughts

[asakiyume]

100 percent agree. Fortunately this particular HOA does *not* do most of that stuff (I have a clothesline, my lawn lawn is allowed to be wild, etc.) It's very live-and-let-live. But they do have the ban on livestock, and it would be great if we could get rid of that.

[gwynnega]

I would like a box of ducklings.

[asakiyume]

They are so appealing!

[light_of_summer]

Yay for ducklings and chicks! \😀/

I regularly read a couple of tumblr blogs written by women who either own or help out with livestock. They also post about a lot of other things, but tags can help with finding the livestock-specific posts. If you'd care to have a look, they are:

bomberqueen17 (who helps out on her sister's chicken, turkey, and pig farm, notably including doing chicken and turkey processing after slaughter), and

kedreeva (who raises and breeds peafowl and coturnix quail and fancy mice, mostly for pets, but I think also somewhat for meat and eggs?)

I've found them both very interesting to read. Let me know if you'd like tips for reading while getting around at least some of tumblr's attempts to make people create an account and log in.

bomberqueen17's #farm life tag

archive of kedreeva's #peafowl tag
archive of kedreeva's #quails tag
archive of kedreeva's #mice tag

[light_of_summer]

Belatedly: And YAY for the workers of the USPS!

[asakiyume]

Oh wonderful; thank you--I'll take a look! (I have a [pretty much inactive] Tumblr account, so I'll be able to get around with no troubles, I think.)

[rachelmanija]

AWWW. Those ducklings are so cute!

[asakiyume]

Right? The one in the back definitely looks like its egging the one in the front to make a break for it!

[umadoshi]

So cute!

[asakiyume]

And they sounded as cute as they look!

[osprey_archer]

Look at those DUCKLINGS!

I also live in a neighborhood where poultry is not allowed. I don't even particularly want poultry (although I'm sure my cats think the ducklings would make delightful playthings...) but I feel a bit crabby when I think I CAN'T have it.

[asakiyume]

I would enjoy a couple of chickens... though with all the coyotes and bobcats around, would I really? Would I, who turned over my shed to squirrels rather than engage in proactive maintenance, actually build a chicken house and take care of the chickens? Maybe they're better in theory than in practice.

But bees. What about bees? Maybe I could do bees...

I should see how people feel about removing that restriction from the covenants, though.

At least I can have the laundry line! I know that's something you can't have. How large is your association? Maybe people would be willing to change and permit laundry lines...

[sovay]

I love my post office and the USPS generally. [That is your veiled political commentary for the day]

*hugs*

We raised ducklings for a couple of years when I was in elementary school. I have many affectionate memories of their peeping and their tiny inquisitive bills and tiny soft-webbed feet.

[asakiyume]

When I was in second grade, one of the second grade teachers always incubated some. It was SO FUN to watch them hatch.

[missroserose]

This is a small delightful thing that was much needed today.

Allow me to return the favor? https://www.tumblr.com/nikniknikin/781021869046431744

❤️

[asakiyume]

Oh I LOVE that! SOOO clever, and I love the choice of things shown. Thank you!!

[sartorias]

I hope they are going to good homes!

[asakiyume]

I certainly do too!

[kore]

Fuzzy babies inna box!

Also the USPS is awesome and I hope it survives and thrives. Somehow.

[asakiyume]

Fuzzy and somehow INDOMITABLE babies inna box :D

(And Amen...)

[zdenka]

*gasp* So CUTE! And fuzzy! With little tiny bills!

At one point I rented a room in a house where the landlords kept backyard chickens (hens only, no roosters allowed by the town laws). The chickens were charming, but also annoyingly noisy with their constant bawking and cackling. Currently much happier with no chickens, and my own birds to cheep at me. :)

[asakiyume]

Aren't they just so cute?

But yes re: chickens. There is a three-dimensional and multisensory presence to real chickens that's quite different from conceptual chickens.

[http://lotuslandfineart.com/velvetrope/]

That was quite the treat!

[asakiyume]

^_^

It was an auditory one as well as a visual one. The sound of all those little cheeps! So cute.

[ckd]

Presumably postage for the chicks was cheep, and for the ducks the sender simply put it on their bill.

[asakiyume]

Ahahaha, this made me laugh at 2 in the morning, when, admittedly, my resistance is low.

[mallorys_camera]

Chickens are quite lovely creatures. And intelligent! Too bad about the HOA restrictions. I think you'd really like them.

[asakiyume]

Maybe the HOA restrictions can be changed--I can bring it up. Though it's one thing to daydream about having chickens and another thing to actually have the care and responsibility of them. They'd need a place to stay at night! I'd have to make sure it was warm in the winter, etc. But I think it would be lovely to have chicken friends, and fresh eggs, and chicken poo is excellent fertilizer, once you age it.

[lokifan]

DUCKLINGS <3 CHICKS <3

[asakiyume]

SUCH CUTIES!

[pameladean]

This is all lovely, but I have to admit that my very first thought was, "DUCKLING-POWERED TRACTORS!"

P.

[asakiyume]

Hahaha, never mind horsepower, we power our tractors with DUCKLINGS. "Why Josiah, I have to tell you, a 50 horsepower tractor just don't cut it against a 25,000 ducklingpower one."