This week I opened the pop door of the duck house, and the ducks went for their first swim. Though not immediately.

When I first opened the door, the ducklings were unsurprisingly a bit freaked out by a strange portal opening in their wall:

The ducklings, looking in from the pond:

They peeked out for several hours, but nobody ventured out until the afternoon:

Unsurprisingly, Gert, the Buff female, was the first out. Here she’s having her first swim, with Bert (the male) watching from the top of the ramp:

After a brief swim, she climbed onto the bank of the pond for a rest:

I really like that picture.

Then back into the pond for more swimming; she had no interest in going back into the duck house:

I moved the mobile cam from watching the bird feeders to the northwest corner of the pond, for another vantage point, to fill in a blind spot of the main pond cam:

Gert went under the pond deck for another break:

She stayed out all night. Here she’s having an early morning swim:

I moved the mobile camera to the northeast corner of the pond, as that gave a better view.

Gert resting on the edge of the pond around dawn:

Misty morning swim:

Gert spent a fair bit of time in the shallow water below the pond deck, where she can stand on the bottom, but still be in the water:

In the afternoon, I grabbed her from the pond edge and returned her to the duck house, so she could tell the other ducks of her experience, and have some food and rest:

The three ducks in their house:

I closed the duck house for the night.

A raccoon visited the pond that evening:

Actually two raccoons; very likely the same two that have been frequenting the cat house (more on that tomorrow):

I didn’t think raccoons could swim, since I’d only seen them wading in the shallow end of the pond. Apparently I was wrong; the pond is about six feet deep at this point:

In the morning, I re-opened the pop door, and gave them the usual treats:

In the afternoon, everyone headed out:

A little hard to see, but all three ducks are at the bottom of the ramp:

Gert shows the way, heading into the water:

Bert joins her in the water:

The Cayuga duck (who we think is female, though aren’t sure) joins them, making a big splash that freaks out the Buffs:

All three ducks swimming around the pond:

They stayed out all night. I’m beginning to think they don’t like the duck house… though who can blame them, compared to the great outdoors.

A midnight swim:

I suppose this is the Flock Friday, not Duck Day, so here are some pics of the chickens to close this out.

An older chicken (Goldie) and a chick (Moana) meet through the fence:

Three chicks amongst the weeds:

The chicks roosting above the closed-off nesting boxes:

I went to check on the chicks at dusk, and found four roosting above the window… not really intended as a roost!

The following evening, Moana was up there again:

Chickens do like roosting in high places. Once they get older, and larger, they won’t be able to get up there. But she can enjoy it while she can.

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed the duck excursions.