Let’s check on the chickens, Bert, and Jack. (Who is that? Read on.)
Chicken treats:
Hey there, Bert:
Jack is, of course, the frog living in our pond deck box:
Another day, more chicken pictures:
A couple more of Jack, sitting on top of the fish food container, and on the side of the box:
Some closeups of the ducklings today, and rearranging things a bit.
As mentioned yesterday, I left the paint tray pool in the house overnight for the first time:
Though they don’t seem to like that position, as few used it there.
Good morning ducklings:
Treat time:
Some close-ups:
Bert came over to check on the ducklings:
On afternoon rounds, I quickly swapped the position of the waterer and pool:
They definitely seem to prefer this location:
Tomorrow I’ll muck out the house again so I can position things better — the ramp is sitting on top of the straw at present, so is a bit unstable.
The ducklings are about four weeks old now, so I’m going to start leaving the paint tray pool in the duck house full-time from today on.
Each day when I go to the duck house on my morning rounds, I swing through the veggie garden to get a handful of lettuce or kale treats for the chickens and ducklings, and a handful of fresh straw from the chicken coop to top up the duck house. I often put them on the duck house roof to have them handy (and so Bert doesn’t help himself):
Good morning ducklings:
As mentioned, I’m going to leave the paint tray pool in the duck house now, so I thought I’d try tucking it in one of the nesting boxes, to give them more floor space. We’ll see if this works:
Treats for everyone:
Head room could be a concern as they grow:
Um, you seem to have something on your face and chest there Betty:
Another day of ducklings.
It was cold overnight, so they huddled under the EcoGlow:
The morning treats:
And wading time:
Today I’ve included a few GIFs of the ducklings, along with the usual assortment of cuteness.
Reviewing the cam recordings, I noticed three ducklings tapping the pop door yesterday morning:
I’m not sure why; there wasn’t anything out there at the time that I could see on the pond cam; perhaps they’re getting a bit stir-crazy, wanting to get into the pond (though have never seen that door open), or thought it made an interesting noise.
Here’s a GIF of that:
Betty the Buff duckling flapping her wings; they’ve certainly grown a bit:
A GIF edition:
On to the usual treats and such:
This morning I posted a slow-motion video on YouTube of a duckling dunking their head under the water; it’s a little long, and includes some further and closer clips, so you might want to skip around in the video. Here’s a GIF edition of one dunk and head shake:
Bert drinking water draining from the duck house as the ducklings splash around in the pool:
Bert peeking at the ducklings:
Watching me:
A slow-motion video with three clips of a duckling dunking their head under the water and shaking the water off.
I mentioned in my previous post that I closed up the duck house after dark. Here’s me with a head-mounted light removing the swimming tray:
Treat time:
Eating from the feeder tube:
Last night I closed up the duck house after dark, and took some pictures of some of the lights around the garden. It’s unusual for us to wander the garden after dark, but it’s quite pleasant.
A spinning garden ornament in the flowerbeds, with a color-changing light. This picture was taken with the flash; you can see the motion blur of the back blade spinning quickly (there was a bit of a breeze):
The same ornament with my headlamp:
One more without illumination:
An animated GIF, showing the spinning and color changing:
A light next to a bridge over the stream:
A flame-like path light:
A GIF of that:
I hope you enjoyed this little stroll.
Today some cam pics, plus I raised up the heat lamp and EcoGlow brooder.
Some morning cam shots of sleepy and active ducklings:
Hey there:
I raised the heat lamp to the highest position; it is off during the day, only turned on at night, since it gets down to around 50° F overnight:
I also raised the EcoGlow, now that the ducklings are getting bigger:
Treat time; look at all those proto-feathers coming on:
Seems like about half of the cat pictures this week are of Pommie.
Here’s Pommie laying in front of the cabins on a hot day:
And next to them on the dirt:
While grilling dinner one day, I stepped onto the pool deck (the pool isn’t set up yet), and saw Pommie next to the pool area:
She sat frozen like that until I went out of sight:
Two cats on the driveway, just before they both flopped over and rolled around on the warm asphalt:
Poppy stretched out inside the cat house:
Pommie in front of the cabins again:
One of the twins (Pommie or Spud) on the driveway in the evening, watching me as I went to close up the duck house:
Cat in the feeder:
Two cats at the cabins (probably Pommie and Porcini):
A cat watching me from a cabin as I refilled the bird feeders:
Porcini about to drink from the stream:
