Another day of ducklings.
It was cold overnight, so they huddled under the EcoGlow:
The morning treats:
And wading time:
Month: June 2020
Ducklings day 26
Today I’ve included a few GIFs of the ducklings, along with the usual assortment of cuteness.
Reviewing the cam recordings, I noticed three ducklings tapping the pop door yesterday morning:
I’m not sure why; there wasn’t anything out there at the time that I could see on the pond cam; perhaps they’re getting a bit stir-crazy, wanting to get into the pond (though have never seen that door open), or thought it made an interesting noise.
Here’s a GIF of that:
Betty the Buff duckling flapping her wings; they’ve certainly grown a bit:
A GIF edition:
On to the usual treats and such:
This morning I posted a slow-motion video on YouTube of a duckling dunking their head under the water; it’s a little long, and includes some further and closer clips, so you might want to skip around in the video. Here’s a GIF edition of one dunk and head shake:
Bert drinking water draining from the duck house as the ducklings splash around in the pool:
Bert peeking at the ducklings:
Watching me:
Slow mo duckling dunking
A slow-motion video with three clips of a duckling dunking their head under the water and shaking the water off.
Ducklings day 25
I mentioned in my previous post that I closed up the duck house after dark. Here’s me with a head-mounted light removing the swimming tray:
Treat time:
Eating from the feeder tube:
Garden lights after dark
Last night I closed up the duck house after dark, and took some pictures of some of the lights around the garden. It’s unusual for us to wander the garden after dark, but it’s quite pleasant.
A spinning garden ornament in the flowerbeds, with a color-changing light. This picture was taken with the flash; you can see the motion blur of the back blade spinning quickly (there was a bit of a breeze):
The same ornament with my headlamp:
One more without illumination:
An animated GIF, showing the spinning and color changing:
A light next to a bridge over the stream:
A flame-like path light:
A GIF of that:
I hope you enjoyed this little stroll.
Ducklings day 24
Today some cam pics, plus I raised up the heat lamp and EcoGlow brooder.
Some morning cam shots of sleepy and active ducklings:
Hey there:
I raised the heat lamp to the highest position; it is off during the day, only turned on at night, since it gets down to around 50° F overnight:
I also raised the EcoGlow, now that the ducklings are getting bigger:
Treat time; look at all those proto-feathers coming on:
Cat update for week ending June 27
Seems like about half of the cat pictures this week are of Pommie.
Here’s Pommie laying in front of the cabins on a hot day:
And next to them on the dirt:
While grilling dinner one day, I stepped onto the pool deck (the pool isn’t set up yet), and saw Pommie next to the pool area:
She sat frozen like that until I went out of sight:
Two cats on the driveway, just before they both flopped over and rolled around on the warm asphalt:
Poppy stretched out inside the cat house:
Pommie in front of the cabins again:
One of the twins (Pommie or Spud) on the driveway in the evening, watching me as I went to close up the duck house:
Cat in the feeder:
Two cats at the cabins (probably Pommie and Porcini):
A cat watching me from a cabin as I refilled the bird feeders:
Porcini about to drink from the stream:
Ducklings day 23
I just posted about the duckling names, but I also have the usual assortment of pictures of them eating leafy treats today:
Duckling names
I thought I’d do a separate post to reveal the duckling names, to make it easier to refer back to in the future.
For our first batch of ducklings, we named them with “B” names for boys, and “G” names for girls: Bert, Bill, Gert, and Gill. For this batch, we initially chose names on that system, based on the country of origin of each breed, then decided to use the breed name as the initial, since the gender is more obvious. Fortunately, our remaining adult duck, Bert, fits into that system too, since he’s a Buff breed: “B” for Buff.
In the following picture, the Buff is leftmost (with her head not visible): her name is Betty. (Actually suggested in a blog comment.)
The two ducklings in the foreground are Khaki Campbells, developed in England, so we considered “K” and “C” names. I think the left one is male, named Clyde, and the right one is female, named Cora.
The one next to the yellow EcoGlow is a male Blue Swedish, named Sven, and the one at the back is a female named Sonja.
The two at the bottom of the ramp are Rouens. We had ordered one female and one male, but unfortunately we received two males (they refunded one). The breed was developed in France, so we went for French “R” names: Raoul and Rémy.
Flock Friday for June 26
Let’s check on Bert, the chickens, and fish.
Bert went onto the pond deck:
Perhaps looking for the mealworm treats and koi food I keep in a box on the deck… guarded by a resident frog:
Bert watching the ducklings:
By the duck house on a rainy day:
Bert looking over the pond:
Chickens enjoying one of their favorite treats — rice:
Lettuce is ignored when there’s rice available:
It’s been hot this week, so I opened all of the chicken coop vents and windows. Here you can see chickens on the roost by the front window:
Another day; a whole lettuce plant, tomatoes, and corn cobs for the chickens:
Looking down from the pond deck at Bert and koi:
Smaller koi:
Restocked duckling and chicken food, with a messy floor from straw stored above the door:
As you may have seen on my personal blog, a jumbo egg:
