Commercial: Bird of all kinds

When I was a kid, we got a hen and a rooster as a pet. I'm not sure it was really allowed, but we did it anyway. We had a variety of odd pets. Ducks, lizards, fish. Down by the Bay Bridge, a good friend has an 80+ acre farm. It's primarily used for horse boarding. But there is much more to it than that.

This spring, a chicken house went up, and soon baby chicks, ducks and geese arrived in small boxes. 

That box holds a couple dozen ping pong ball sized chicks. They just hatched the day before, and were immediately stuck on a plane and shipped to the farm. They grow fast too! The chicks in these pictures are a few days old and have already doubled, or more, in size. 

They are kept in feed tubs with infrared lights to keep them warm. It's hard to believe that they will grow up to a full size bird in a few months. 

This is a special variety of chicken, which is why it is gray in color. When full grown, the feathers will be multicolored and ornate. There are plain white chickens too. Here are some that have already had some time to grow.

Not to be boring on this farm, there are ducks too. The ducks really seem to operate by the old adage, bird of a feather flock together.

 I wonder what they are thinking as they stare at me?

Here's me with a handful of chicks.