Today I added a ceramic cat dish to the duck house, as a baby-sized pool from which they can enjoy drinking and wading. Next week I’ll upgrade that to the red paint tray pool, but this is a good start.

Ducklings can drown if allowed in too much water too soon, as they don’t have the waterproofing oils yet. (If they were raised by a mother duck, she would share her oils with them.) Wading in shallow water helps them develop and spread their own oils.

Hey what’s this?

Looks like it’d be fun to step into:

Yep:

My turn:

Mine too:

This is fun!

The newest ducklings are now starting their second week. Other than the introduction of straw (which I did a couple of days ago), and reducing the temperature by 1° each day, the only other change due this week will be to add a ceramic dish of water for bonus drinking and stepping in, as a prelude to the paint tray pool. I’ll probably add that dish tomorrow.

Peeking at the ducklings in a nesting box, through the cupboard:

Some more duckling cuteness:

Today I introduced the ducklings to straw bedding, and raised up the feeder a little, since they’re getting bigger.

The new ducklings are noticeably growing every day; they’re already starting to get a more duck-like shape:

I raised up the waterer a little today, to compensate for their growth. I’ll probably raise the feeder tomorrow.

Today the high temperature reached 94° F (34° C) which is a bit warm even for brand-new ducklings.

Via the duck house cam, I spotted two Rouens on the EcoGlow in the early morning:

Hey ducklings:

I feel like they’re watching me… because they are:

Standing on the over-full feeder:

Did you see the video of them eating?

Ducklings in nesting boxes:

Since it’s so hot today, I turned off the heat lamp, and partially opened the vent, to maintain the optimal floor temperature of around 90°; with the vents closed, the duck house gets quite a bit warmer than the outside air, which is good overnight, but not so much with such a hot day:

It’s day two of the newest ducklings… but unfortunately not for the Buff one. She died overnight.

I was a little concerned about her yesterday, as I saw her apart from the others a few times, which is unusual for ducklings; a potential sign of health issues. I didn’t see anything obviously wrong with her yesterday, but this morning when I visited the duck house, I found her dead in the corner, unfortunately the corner that’s in the camera blind spot.

Reviewing the cam footage, this is one of the last shots of her, having a midnight snack with the others:

I saw her go into the corner, then didn’t see her again until I found her in the morning.

It’s always sad to lose an animal, but it happens. I guess she was just too weak. I just hope we don’t lose any of the others.

Sleeping around the thermometer:

Cuteness in the morning:

Just now, I saw a Rouen on top of the EcoGlow; I seem to recall one of the previous batch liking that spot, too… yeah, as seen on day 5 of the previous batch: