An exciting day: today I picked up the new ducklings from the local post office.

As I always do, I strapped the box of ducklings in the car seat for the ride home:

Here are the ducklings huddled together in the box:

The list of ducklings we purchased:

And care and identification info on the back:

I carefully lifted each duckling out of the box, and dipped their bill in the water, to show them how to drink:

They all figured it out quickly, and were unsurprisingly thirsty, having never had water to drink before (they survive on hatching stores and some gel in the box during transit):

They’re too small to need bricks under the waterer yet (that’ll change!), so I moved it directly to the floor:

I added a feeder, and sprinkled some food on some bricks so they could see it. Here’s the first one to eat:

The others caught on:

Then figured out that the feeder had lots more available:

They tilt their heads back when drinking:

More eating:

Checking on them a couple of hours later. About 90° F (32° C) under the heat lamp; they are on the edge of that, so seem comfortable:

A couple of hours later after that, more eating and drinking:

Brace yourself for daily duckling pictures for the next few weeks. They grow quickly!

(Plus, of course, the usual Flock Friday post of Bert and the chickens; I’ll keep posts about them separate, at least for now.)