More ducklings day 52: into the pond!

Today’s the big day: I removed a panel of the duckling run and opened the pop door, letting the ducklings into the pond. Which I consider their graduation to calling them just “ducks”.

I said yesterday that I wasn’t sure when I’d do that. One reason I decided to proceed was that one of the Rouens got out of the duck house last night. She pushed open the cupboard door from inside the nesting box, and hopped out:

Duck house escape

(The cupboard doors are held shut with roller catches, so require a little force to open.)

Here you can see her outside the gate on the left, watched by others inside:

Duckling outside

Here’s a picture of her when I went out there and discovered her outside; I opened the gate and encouraged her back in:

Duckling outside

I felt that was a sign that they were antsy to explore more of their world, and since they’re old enough, decided it was time.

I started this morning the same as ever, with fresh straw and leafy treats:

Morning treats

Then I removed the run fence side by the pond, letting them into it; Betty came over to say hi, as she often does:

Removed run fence side

The new ducks on the edge of pond:

Ducks on edge of pond

And entering the pond for the first time:

Ducks entering pond

Sassa was the second one in:

Ducks entering pond

Some pictures of the new ducks in the pond:

New ducks in pond

New ducks in pond

The two groups kept mostly separate, though interacted a bit:

Ducks

Did you see the video?

Betty seemed concerned about Sassa; at one point I saw her nudge Sassa when she was having a little difficulty in getting onto the pond edge (something she got better at with practice):

Sassa escorted by Betty

Sassa still looks messy, but that should improve with more swimming. As expected, her gimpy leg wasn’t so much of a problem when in the water:

Sassa

The new ducks spent a while hanging out in the shallow end by the waterfall (which is currently off):

New ducks in pond

New ducks in pond

New ducks in pond

And on the bank by the waterfall:

New duck by waterfall

New ducks in pond

This is by the duck house:

New ducks in pond

Betty spent some time hanging out with the new ducks on the edge of the pond by the waterfall:

Ducks on edge of pond

After a while, Sassa went back in the duck house for a rest and preening session:

Sassa

A couple of hours later, looking much better:

Sassa

Some new ducks and older ducks hanging out by the waterfall:

Ducks by waterfall

Here is a big GIF summary of 72 pictures from today (it might take a while to load); some of these will probably appear in next week’s Flock Friday:

GIF summary

We now have 13 ducks on our pond; Bert from the first batch, six from the second batch, and six more from the latest ones.

As before, I’ll probably continue the daily “More Ducklings” posts for a few days, then save up pictures for the next Flock Friday.

Flock Friday for October 2

Alrighty, today’s the day: some of the ducklings seem keen to explore beyond the duck house and run, so I’m going to let them out today. We’ll see if they take advantage of the opportunity. Stay tuned for tonight’s duckling post!

In the meantime, one last Flock Friday without the latest ducklings. In next week’s post, they’ll be all together.

Firstly, did you see the video of the hummingbirds last weekend?

Hummingbirds

Here are the older ducks having a meal:

Ducks

Hey Betty:

Ducks

On the pond amongst fallen leaves:

Ducks

Ducks

Ducks

Boys’ club; the four male ducks (aka drakes):

Male ducks

Since the pop door opener on the new chicken coop is malfunctioning, I have to go out and reset it each evening, so I added a hook-&-eye to hold the hatch open while I do so to make that easier:

Pop door opener hatch

The manufacturer is sending me a new motor, which hopefully will fix that issue; we’ll see.

The four chickens that prefer that coop always look startled when I turn up around sunset:

Chickens

Exploding chickens! It’s molting time, so there are feathers everywhere:

Chickens

A totally normal thing at this time of year. They stop laying while molting, though, so we’re down to only about five eggs per day, instead of the 12-17 we were getting in summer. Which is still plenty for us, we just can’t give them away for a while.

This is nifty; if you look closely, you can see her third eyelid half closed:

Chickens

More pictures of the chickens:

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

A favorite dust bath location. Though Buffy looks embarrassed; “don’t look at me, I’m hideous!” It’s okay Buffy; you may look messy while shedding your old feathers, but you’ll grow fancy new ones:

Chickens

Back to the ducks; the ducklings watching duck butts in the pond:

Duck butts

Let’s all go this way:

Ducks

What’s that strange red thing in our food dish? (It’s a tomato, which I haven’t offered them before; they prefer green treats.)

Ducks

Hanging out on the path, and Sonja flapping her wings:

Ducks

In the pond; Rémy showing his shiny green head:

Ducks