The ducklings are seven weeks old today, which means they could be eligible to go in the pond any time now. But I think I’ll give them another few days; they aren’t all fully feathered yet.

Let’s start a little differently this time: with a GIF time-lapse of overnight in the duck house. It is only showing times with activity, so if you notice big jumps in the clock, that’s when they’re sleeping. It’s fun to watch the water level drop in the waterer and tray — ducks drink a lot of water — I fill both when I close up the house, and they’re almost empty in the morning:

You probably saw the post earlier today with their names. Here’s me peeking through a nesting box at the formerly mystery duckling, Silver Swedish Sassa (aka Gimpy):

All of the ducklings… really ducks now:

Colorful Rouen… Rosa, Roxy, Riva, or Ruby… yep, one of them:

I tried giving them bits of tomato as a treat… they weren’t too sure about that. It’s not green!

That’s more like it… though my fingers aren’t included in the meal:

Silver Swedish Sassa somewhat swimming — I tossed her in the pool again, for more reluctant swimming practice:

She’s much more clean than she was before; amazing what a short dunk or two will do. Though still got more preening and bathing to fully clean up:

Khaki Campbell Clara, still a bit of feather growth to do:

Clara swimming:

Splashes:

Raising out of the water:

Two Rouens:

Once again, let’s finish with a GIF summary of all 38 pictures taken today:

Thanks for the feedback from several people. Seems that one second per picture is a good pace, and including all of the pictures provides interesting context. I’m glad you enjoy these, those that do — and if you don’t, easy to skip them at the end.

Since Jean mentioned it, here’s a GIF of me shoving Gimpy yesterday. Or more charitably, gently introducing a reluctant duckling to the concept of swimming, in a safe environment. Yeah, that sounds better:

The ducklings this morning:

Today I introduced them to mealworm treats; they weren’t too sure about them at first, but I know they will go crazy for them in short order:

Hanging out in the duck house:

Rouen close-up:

And the Khaki Campbell:

Today: a mystery, shoving a duckling, showing off feathers, and another GIF summary of 75 pictures. Yep, I took a lot today. But first, here are 13 pictures of note.

A Rouen showing off her wings:

This duckling, who we nickname Gimpy after her dodgy leg, but one of my blog readers more charitably calls Sassa, I thought was a Blue Swedish when I got her. But as she grew her feathers I had my doubts about that — she doesn’t look like the other two Blue Swedish, Sven and Sonja:

For one thing, she has yellow feet, when theirs are black… and her feathers are mostly white, though rather grimy, since she has never gone for a swim as far as I’m aware:

So if she isn’t a Blue Swedish, what is she? Based her coloring, I think maybe Pekin? If you have more experience with ducks than me, please let me know! I have queried the hatchery I got them from to see if they can help.

A dusty Rouen having just chomped part of a leafy treat:

Another leafy treat:

Water droplets, and more feather growth:

Green feathers:

The mystery duckling having a drink from the edge of the pool:

Since she hasn’t shown any inclination to swim, and I was sitting right there, I took advantage of that opportunity to introduce her to the concept in a less graceful way: I shoved her in. Not nice, perhaps, but she’s going to be in the pond in a few days, so I wanted her first swim to be somewhere she can easily get out:

She flailed around and complained, unsurprisingly, but did fine:

After about 30 seconds she hopped out, and spent ages preening, which will be great for spreading her waterproofing oils. Maybe she won’t be quite so grimy now, though probably needs more than one swim to get cleaned up:

The Rouens showed her how much they enjoy swimming:

A Rouen showing off her wings again:

The GIF of all 75 pictures taken today, if you want more duckling pictures in your life:

(A question: do you watch these summary GIFs? If you do, would you prefer I include all photos, including the ones highlighted above, or just the ones I don’t include above? And is the speed of one picture per second good?)

Last night the maintenance door of the duck house didn’t latch securely, and a duckling pushed it open when squeezing past the waterer.

Here’s a GIF:

They quickly took advantage of the opportunity to head out for more swimming:

I saw them on the camera, and went out again to close them up properly when I closed up the chicken coop.

This morning (and all day) has been rainy, which is fine with them:

Swimming:

A Rouen playing with the bungee that holds the door open (in addition to the brick, which stops it banging in the wind):

Splashes:

Looking at me from the tray pool:

Today for the ducklings, some stretching of wings, fun splashes, and a GIF.

A Rouen stretching her wings; still some feather growth to go, but getting there (with the older ducks visible in the pond):

Like water off a duck’s back:

A Rouen stepping on up to the pool, and Betty stepping up to the fence from the pond:

Splashes:

The Khaki Campbell flapping her wings too; a little behind in growth, but also getting there:

An animated GIF of three ducks swimming in circles:

Some leafy treats in the morning, misting to cool off in the early afternoon, and escape from the run in the late afternoon!

Leafy treats:

Pool time:

Misting:

Scratching in the mist:

Hey there:

GIF of trying to drink the mist:

GIF of scratching:

In the late afternoon, a duckling squeezed under the gate while rooting in the mud:

She was followed by a couple of others. When I reassembled the run I had bricks under the gate to prevent that, but I removed them as I didn’t think they could fit; apparently I was wrong!

I saw a duckling outside on the cam, and went out there to find three sitting outside the gate; it seems they hadn’t figured out how to get back in. I opened the gate, and they were eager to go back in.

Here’s a picture from the cam of a duckling going under the gate:

From another angle:

Another one going under the gate:

I added the bricks back, so they won’t be able to do that again!

17 photos of ducklings today (I usually aim for 8-10), plus a GIF with those and 25 more taken today.

I started the day by mucking out the duck house, since the straw was getting rather thick and smelly (I normally just add a layer of fresh straw each day):

They were very brave and curious:

A tub of dirty straw, that I lugged to the compost:

I put the base of the waterer back and added some water (the power cord is to slightly warm the water in winter, to prevent it freezing; not needed at present):

Swim time:

Rooting in the fresh straw:

Too close to focus!

Resting Rouen:

Little brown duckling:

Blue Swedish duckling:

Proto-feathers; you can see little feathers on the top and below her wing, and little pins starting at the tip of the wing:

You’re standing on my toes:

Treats:

With them splashing around in the mud, I get rather muddy feet and ankles when sitting in the run with them; I hose myself off when departing (I have my showers in the afternoons, so don’t sit in there after that):

Treats; they prefer lettuce over kale:

Pool time, splashing everywhere:

An animated GIF of all 40 photos taken today (excluding the two cam shots):

Hey duckling fans! Some different angles today, plus a GIF of snuggly ducklings.

Looking down into the duckling run:

Treats:

In the house:

The “little brown duckling” (Khaki Campbell); really should decide on names soon:

The Blue Swedish duckling:

Pool time:

The Khaki Campbell again:

Both of the non-Rouens:

More pool time:

A cute GIF of a Rouen joining her sister on the end of the concrete block: