Video on the Dejus YouTube channel: Today our ducklings discovered the joy of swimming.
Month: June 2020
Ducklings day 16
Today, the ducklings discovered the joy of swimming.
But first, I liked the color variations of these three cam captures, of the night-vision, early morning, and lighter morning:
Amazing what a difference it makes to the light level just having a vent open.
The traditional morning greeting:
I put the paint tray pool back in the house. Bert took a peek:
They took the bait of treats:
Oooh, it’s wet:
Hey, I like that:
Everybody (almost) in the pool!
Dunking duckling:
An animated GIF of that picture; you can see dunking underwater, and the one at the top of the ramp preening, which helps spread the waterproofing oils:
Afternoon swims:
I’ll continue morning and afternoon supervised swims for the next couple of weeks, until their 5th week, removing the tray before I depart each time. After that, I’ll be able to leave the tray in there full-time. About three weeks after that, at about their 8th week, they’ll be able to go into the pond.
Flock Friday for June 19
It’s Friday, so let’s check on the adult birds, in a weekly series I call Flock Friday.
Let’s start with the chickens enjoying some kale treats, while Bert watches and waits for me outside the run:
Bert then followed me across the lawn:
And down the path:
That was cute; let’s have an animated GIF of that:
Bert watching the ducklings:
Another day, Bert meeting me by the compost bins again:
At the chicken coop:
Bert watching the ducklings again:
And watching me:
A GIF of a couple birds flying over the pond:
And a still pic:
Let’s finish as we started, with more chickens enjoying treats (kale and lettuce grown in our veggie garden):
Ducklings day 15
Today I introduced the ducklings to leafy treats and the swimming pool… with mixed success.
Good morning ducklings:
Remember how I said yesterday that they’d be eating from the top feeder tube hole in a few weeks? Well, make that the next day:
What’s that green thing?
Only took them a moment to investigate it and realize it’s a tasty treat:
Next up, I added the paint tray swimming pool and ramp, with a little water:
Some hesitantly went up the ramp, but they weren’t so sure about that:
That’s as far as they got. I’ll try again tomorrow with treats in the water.
This afternoon, I briefly had another go, without any more success (but without treats). Bert wasn’t providing any encouragement; he avoided the tray when he was a duckling:
It’s warm today, and they were panting a bit, so I opened the vent above the door, and cracked the main vent:
I still left the heat lamp on, though, so they don’t get too cold overnight. They need around 76° currently, which is about the current air temperature, though it’s warmer inside the duck house. It’ll get down to 54° overnight, so still need heat.
Grown ducks are very hardy, able to cope with freezing and really hot temperatures, but ducklings are much more sensitive.
Ducklings day 14
Today, a little rearranging of the duck house, in preparation for introducing supervised swimming tomorrow.
The morning mess; changes in store:
I moved the baby food dispenser to in front of the pop door, the water dispenser to the right side, the EcoGlow into a nesting box, and added more straw:
That makes room for the paint tray pool, which I’ll introduce to them tomorrow:
I’ve seen a few of them eating from the feeder tube. Remember when they couldn’t reach it? In another few weeks, they’ll be able to eat from the top hole:
An angled view of the EcoGlow in the nesting box:
I like how the two Blue Swedish ducklings (top-left) are standing identically. The left one is female, the right one is male:
They seem to like the new position of the EcoGlow; I’ve seen them actually using it:
Ducklings day 13
Your daily duckling dispatch.
Sleeping ducklings:
Not sleeping ducklings:
Let there be (day)light; I opened the cupboard door:
The usual morning mess:
Bert checking on the ducklings while I refilled their food:
I raised the heat lamp; they need lower temperatures each week. Fun fact: not sleeping under the lamp tells me that they are a little too warm:
The usual pictures of the ducklings:
Refilling the water dish from the hose; if you compare to the previous cam picture, you can see the raised heat lamp position, too:
On evening rounds, peeking through the nesting boxes below the cupboards, I caught a duck on top of the EcoGlow:
He really likes it up there; just now I saw him hop up there and stretch his tiny wings (animated GIF):
And sit for a while:
11 hours at the cat cabins in 19 seconds
A summary (generated by Camect) of 11 hours at the feral cat cabins, showing three cats in the cabins.
Ducklings day 12
Your daily dose of ducklings.
Good morning; looking damp as usual:
The daily top up of fresh bedding:
And water and food:
Hey Bert:
I added a dish for his food; easier to eat out of water than on the ground:
Berry cage bird netting
Yesterday I added some bird netting to the veggie garden berry cage fences.
When I built the berry cage, I used a fairly narrow gauge welded wire for the fencing, to keep birds out, without excluding bees, but it turned out that some birds could still squeeze through.
So, I added an additional layer of lightweight bird netting to prevent that. The roof doesn’t have the bird netting, on the theory that they won’t be able to go in that way as easily as horizontal access. Time will tell if I’m wrong about that too!
Ducklings day 11
Today at the duck house, Bert and I watch the ducklings again.
Good morning ducklings:
Refilled the water, topped up the food and bedding:
Let’s step in the water dish while eating:
Hey Bert:
Wide angle view:
