After my pekin duck's nest was raided right before her eggs hatched, I quickly ordered some ducklings for her from a hatchery so she would have something to raise. In typical fashion, she quit as soon as the order shipped, leaving me to raise the ducklings. I ordered four blue swedish ducklings, just because I like the looks of them. The hatchery did have a disclaimer stating that any order of blue poultry can also include black or splash, because of how the genetics of the blue color works. Breeding B/B/S silkies myself, I understood this and was okay with getting a black or splash duckling or two. When the shipment arrived, I actually only got one blue duckling and three blacks. Oh well, they are all cute! The blue one, maybe just a little bit cuter.
Of course, shipping from hatcheries isn't cheap, so if you're getting something and you have friends that also have poultry, you always ask if they'd like something too, so you can split the shipping. One friend took me up on this offer and that's how two barred cochin chicks were added to the order. And, if you're familiar with chickens, you're familiar with chicken math and morehens disease, which is how I found myself scanning through the hatchery's website, seeing what else was available for the ship date I had selected. And then somehow, I ended up with two welsummer chicks and three assorted brahmas in my order! How did that happen? So here I am with a brooder full of chicks and ducklings that I didn't really need, but who can turn down this much cuteness?