Ducklings day 54: into the pond!

Yesterday I opened the duck house pop door for the first time, and while Bert joined them, the new ducks didn’t venture into the pond. But today was different; they had their first swims in the pond!

Here they are in their house, after I opened the pop door:

Ducks

As mentioned in the video I posted on YouTube earlier today, since they weren’t showing any sign of wanting to go out, I basically nudged them out the door. I can understand their hesitation, but sometimes a bit more encouragement is needed.

The three female ducks went out first.

(Fun fact digression: female ducks are called “hens” or just “ducks”, while males are called “drakes”, but I don’t bother with that, since that might cause confusion with the chicken hens.)

Bert showed them around — “here is where you can get treats and steal fish food when the human does afternoon rounds”:

Bert shows the female ducks around

Bert and the female ducks

Bert and the female ducks

Bert and the female ducks

Then I encouraged the boys out, and they joined the girls in a corner of the pond:

All the ducks in the pond

Ducks in the pond

Duck zoomies:

Duck zoomies

Sven flapping his wings:

Sven flapping wings

Flapping, dunking, and splashing in the shallow end of the pond:

Flapping and dunking

Splashing

Flapping and splashing

Flapping wings:

Flapping wings

Nice formation:

Nice formation

Backlit and sunbeams from the other side of the pond:

In front of duck house

In a corner of the pond

By the duck house

A while later, they returned to their run for a rest:

Returning to run

Nap time; all that swimming was hard work!

Nap time

(That’s Bert in the pool.)

Video

New ducks first swim

Since the new ducks didn’t avail themselves of the pond when I opened the pop door yesterday, today I “encouraged” them (I basically shoved them out the door). The three females went first, and Bert showed them around the pond, then the boys joined them.

This video contains five clips from their first swim, from different vantage points around the pond.