Ducks

Ducklings day 46

For today’s duckling post, we start with a cam picture from last night, then sleepy ducklings, then treat time. I’m starting to use their names more, too.

From the cam, Betty spreading her wings in the pool; her feathers are coming in nicely:

Wings

Edit to add: a GIF of Betty dunking and flapping her wings:

Wings

Sleepy ducklings:

Sleepy ducklings

I had been plugging in the heat lamp each night, but now they’re old enough to not need it, so it has been discontinued. They still have the EcoGlow for now, though I’ll remove that in a few days.

Treat time:

Treat time

Betty and Cora (I think) heading in for a swim, with Bert approaching in the pond:

Ducklings with Bert approaching

Sonja:

Sonja

Betty and one of the Rouens on the steps, Cora at the top, watched by Bert:

Ducklings

Cora, I believe (I haven’t quite locked down the differences between her and Clyde, but I’m reasonably sure, if only because the females are more into swimming):

Cora?

Now that they’re mostly feathered out, and almost fully grown, I should do another duck name post. Once they’re in the pond, it’ll be harder to get as good pictures of them all.

Ducklings day 45

Today, in addition to the usual duckling run pictures, I have some pictures from up the path, and from the pond deck, including a GIF.

Firstly, a cam shot of nighttime activity:

Nighttime

And sleep:

Nighttime

Treat time:

Ducklings

Water droplets everywhere:

Splash

Shall we swim?

Shall we swim?

Haven’t quite figured out gentle paddling yet:

Haven't quite figured out gentle paddling yet

Dunking head:

Dunking head

View from the path to the duck house:

View from path

Closer:

View from path

View from the pond deck; I have both the fountain and waterfall going currently:

View from pond deck

GIF from the pond deck, with a duckling visible in their pool:

GIF from pond deck

Not long before they’ll be out in the pond; probably sometime next week.

Flock Friday for July 17

For Flock Friday this week, a bunch of pictures of our adult duck Bert, and a few chicken pictures.

Bert and Betty drinking water drained from the duck house:

Bert drinking

Bert with the ducklings, when I first added the kiddie pool (remember that?):

Bert with ducklings

Bert by my feet:

Bert by my feet

Bert

Bert by the duckling run, from across the pond:

Bert by duckling run from across the pond

Bert and ducklings from across the pond

Bert on the island:

Bert on island

Bert with ducklings on another day:

Bert with ducklings

Bert on the island from the pond cam:

Bert on the island

We gave the chickens some tasty slugs as treats, though they ignored them, at least while we were watching. Here’s Domino:

Domino ignoring slugs

Domino ignoring a slug

Sometimes an egg gets broken in a nesting box, which makes other eggs dirty. When we have plentiful eggs as now, I just toss the dirty ones, rather than laboriously clean them:

Dirty eggs

With warm weather in summer, I have the chicken coop windows open:

Chicken coop

Some chickens visible on the roost above the nesting boxes:

Chickens through coop window

Ducklings day 43

Shockingly, no modifications to the duckling run today. They’ll only be using it for another week or two, so it’s fine.

I mentioned yesterday that they swam in the afternoon. Here are a few cam shots from then, starting with three pairs of duckling feet on the edge of the pool:

Duckling feet

The shade does make the pictures less clear; the cam can’t handle the sunny and shady contrast as well:

Afternoon swim

Afternoon swim

This morning, treat time:

Morning treat time

Drinking water drained from when I just refilled their water dispenser:

Drinking water drained from house

Flapping wings; it’s fascinating watching the feathers growing, as little pins that sprout feathery bits from the end, spreading towards the base:

Flapping wings

Touching bills:

Touching bills

Splashes:

Splashes

Scratching:

Scratching

An afternoon swim today:

Afternoon swim

Flapping wings:

Afternoon swim

Ducklings day 42

I seem to do tweaks every day; today I added a tarp to the roof of the duckling run, to give them some more shade.

But first, morning treat time:

Treat time

Making a hole in the water again:

Hole in the water again

Splash:

Splash

Wings flapping:

Wings flapping

Like water off a duck’s back:

Like water off a duck's back

Four in the pool:

Four in the pool

I noticed that the ducklings tended to avoid the pool in the heat of the day, sticking to the shade of their house. So I attached a small tarp to the gate across the top of the run, using bungees, to make the run more pleasant for them:

Tarp

Tarp

On the cam, I saw them using the run and pool after that, though I haven’t captured images of that yet. So I think they approve.

Ducklings day 41

Today I did another minor tweak to the duckling pool, and they didn’t even wait for it to finish filling before they wanted to go in.

But first, sleepy ducklings just after midnight:

Sleepy ducklings

Morning ducklings, keen to get out. I can’t blame them — as they continue to grow, it’s getting rather crowded in there when they’re active:

Morning ducklings

My tweak was to add another couple concrete blocks, one in the pool as a platform to make it easier to get out or stand, and one outside on the right as an exit step:

Ducklings

They were keen to get to the treats, even though the hose was still filling the pool:

Ducklings

I filled it to the top today, giving them lots of depth for swimming and diving:

Ducklings

A splashy takeoff from the platform:

Ducklings

Making a hole in the water:

Ducklings

Wings flapping:

Ducklings

More flapping:

Ducklings

Ducklings day 40

As you will have seen in the YouTube video posted earlier, today I improved the steps into the duckling pool.

Here’s a GIF from yesterday of five ducklings in the pool, and flapping wings:

Swimming GIF

A still of those wings; still got more growing to do, but definitely looking more feathery every day:

Wings

Another shot of five in the pool:

Five in the pool

From the pond cam, Bert on the island, and me closing up the duck house last night:

Bert on the island, David at the duck house

This morning I brought a couple concrete blocks over to the duck house, and used them to make better steps for the pool, almost like a ramp:

Improved steps for pool

Inside the pool, I added bricks on either side of the steps, since they often want to get out somewhere other than the steps, and as a ledge to stand on:

Improved steps for pool

The ducklings came out to investigate while I was still filling the pool:

Ducklings

Once I was done filling, Betty headed straight in:

Ducklings

A couple in the pool, a couple stretching to reach treats from outside:

Ducklings in pool

Three in the pool:

Ducklings in pool

The water is now deep enough that they can’t touch the bottom, so they get their first taste of actual swimming:

Ducklings in pool

Ducklings in pool

Splash:

Ducklings in pool

Ducklings in pool

Ducklings in pool

Bert watching with me:

Ducklings in pool

Video

Ducklings really swimming in kiddie pool

In my previous video, the water level in the kiddie pool was fairly low, so the ducklings were more wading than swimming. Today, I rearranged the steps, and made the water more deep, so they could actually swim for the first time.

Watch their feet zipping along as they get used to this new experience!