Let’s Do the Time Warp Again: more ducklings!

Yesterday I posted some musings about getting more female ducklings, to address the current imbalance of five males and three females, and expected issues that will cause as the males mature.

After sleeping on it, we decided to go ahead with that idea.

So, we just ordered seven new ducklings, all female. (Hopefully there won’t be any errors this time!) To keep things simple, we got the same four breeds as before, so there will be two females for each male of each breed. Not that they care.

That includes one more female Buff, like Betty (adult duck pictures from MyPetChicken.com):

Buff Duck Pair

Plus one Blue Swedish:

Blue Swedish duck

One Khaki Campbell:

Khaki Campbell ducks

And four female Rouens, since we have two males:

Rouen ducks

(Click those links to learn more about each, if interested.)

So, just when I was thinking of winding down the daily duckling posts, I’ll be starting again! It’s good timing, though, since the ducks don’t need the duck house anymore (other than to eat, which they can do outside), but I still have duckling food, and can leave the temporary run in place for when the newer ducklings are old enough for it in a few weeks time.

You can look forward to lots more cute baby duckling pics again starting in about a week!

For a preview, you can review the earlier duckling posts; this link will show them all in chronological order. I’ll use a new tag, imaginatively titled “ducklings 2020 again”, for this second batch of ducklings.

Should we get more ducklings?

No pictures this time, just some musing. As we see Bert’s behavior towards the other ducks, and think about potential problems as the other males mature, both in terms of fighting and over-mating, we’re regretting trying to get balanced sexes… more so since we ended up with two male Rouens instead of one of each gender.

So, tonight while Jenn and I were standing on the pond deck after watching an example of that kind of behavior, we were seriously thinking about whether or not it’d be sensible to buy more ducklings now.

Since the new ducks are now in the pond, I could get more ducklings, all female, and go through this seven-or-so week process again. Oh no, more cute ducklings!

We’re thinking a more sensible ratio would be two females for each male. Since we have five males and three females at present, that means we need seven more females.

If we did that, we’re thinking about getting four Rouens, and one more of each of the other breeds.

Of course, the other alternative would be to leave things as they are, and see what happens. Maybe it won’t be as bad as we fear. Do we really want 15 ducks, and potentially more in the future if they breed (and we don’t lose any)? We could always get more ducklings next year.

But we have an opportunity to get more now, and have them be only about 10 weeks younger.

I’m going to sleep on it and decide tomorrow, but I welcome any thoughts, especially from anyone with experience of keeping ducks.

Ducklings day 63: lonely Sven

Did you see the video of Cora sliding into the pond? That was taken by Jenn, and was rather amusing. Based on the track down the rock, they seem to use that route a lot, which isn’t surprising, since it’s near one of their favorite hangout spots.

From this morning, some ducks in the pond:

Ducks in the pond

A Rouen rising up out of the water:

A Rouen rising up out of the water

Here’s a GIF of that; also rather funny, like riding a unicycle:

GIF of a Rouen rising up out of the water

Over in the deep end, with poor Sven hiding amongst the grasses on the edge:

Ducks in the pond

He doesn’t get to hang out with the others when Bert is on the case:

Ducks in the pond

Bert chasing Sven back to the edge:

Bert chasing Sven

Sven separated again:

Ducks in the pond

Lonely Sven:

Sven

Ducklings day 62

Read an interesting blog post about ducks this morning, where her advice was to have only one or two male ducks and more females. Oops. As she said, male ducks can be real jerks. Not looking at anyone in particular, Bert.

Morning ducks:

Morning ducks

Treats on the bank:

Treats on the bank

They enjoy this grassy patch:

Treats on the bank

Heading into the house:

Heading into the house

Breakfast time:

Breakfast time

Poor Sven keeps getting chased away by Bert:

Excluded Sven

Ducklings day 61: Bert vs Sven

As mentioned yesterday, Bert really doesn’t like Sven. I don’t know what his problem is, but he keeps chasing Sven.

First, some glowy Rouens:

Glowy Rouens

Looking at them from across the pond:

From across the pond

Resting in the duck house; that’s Sven on the left at the back, and Betty next to him:

Resting in duck house

Sven with a Rouen:

Resting in duck house

Then along comes Bert:

Bert chasing Sven

And Sven quickly retreated:

Bert chasing Sven

A GIF of Bert chasing Sven across the pond:

GIF of Bert chasing Sven

A somewhat more clear picture:

Bert chasing Sven

They’re just going to have to sort that out themselves.

Ducklings day 60: sixty, really?

Sixty days sounds like a lot, but is only about 8.5 weeks.

The ducks swimming and/or sleeping on the pond at night (they can swim with half their brain and sleep with the other half):

Night ducks

Greeting the ducks in their run in the morning:

Morning ducks

Leafy treats:

Morning ducks

Ducks jumping into the pond:

Ducks jumping into pond

Hmm, the pop door didn’t open on the duck house this morning; the opener had an error, so maybe needs more attention. I recalibrated (again), and will see if it opens tomorrow:

Pop door opener error

Afternoon treats from the pond deck:

Treats

Bert seems to have taken a disliking to Sven; he chased him away from the treats:

Sven

I’ve seen Bert chasing Sven several times. He doesn’t chase any of the other ducks. Sven will be bigger than Bert when fully grown, so the tables may turn on that.

Ducklings day 59: mucking out the duck house

Today I mucked out the duck house.

But first, sleepy ducks:

Sleepy ducks

Approaching for treats:

Approaching for treats

Eating treats; check out those tongues!

Eating treats

Mucking out the duck house; it had many layers of compacted straw:

Mucking out duck house

I took several loads of dirty straw to the compost on my cart:

Dirty straw on cart

The straw added a lot of volume to the compost bin:

Compost

Empty duck house:

Empty duck house

Fresh straw:

Fresh straw

I probably won’t need to muck it out again for a while, now that they aren’t living in there anymore.

I also refilled their food, in the inverted jug at the top of the feeder tube:

Refilled food

Swimming:

Swimming

The ducks visited the duck house to eat; here Bert and Betty seem to be comparing notes:

Eating

Bert with a dirty bill, while others eat:

Eating

An animated GIF of ducks eating:

GIF of ducks eating

Ducklings day 58: not really ducklings anymore

I still haven’t decided what to do about my duck posts; as mentioned in today’s Flock Friday, I will probably roll them into the Friday post, but am tempted to continue daily posts, perhaps with just one picture, though that doesn’t really fit the format of this blog. But hey, why decide now when I can put it off another day!

So, on with today’s pictures… starting with some night cam shots from last night; looking alert about some noise or something:

Night ducks

Some in the water:

Night ducks

Everyone swimming:

Night ducks

Morning ducks:

Morning ducks

Below the pond deck:

Ducks below pond deck

On the bank:

Ducks by pond deck

A GIF of wing-assisted jumping from the pond to the bank:

GIF of ducks by pond deck

Next to the lawn, with Bert shaking his head:

Ducks next to lawn

This afternoon, ducks on the bank enjoying mealworm treats, with Bert in the water heading for the koi food:

Ducks by pond deck

Some on the bank, some in the water:

Ducks by pond deck and in pond

Ducklings day 57: we don’t need no stinkin’ duck house

The ducks all spent the night outside again, as I expect will be the norm going forward. They slept on the pond and on the bank by the pond deck, which is one of Bert’s favorite spots.

I gave them treats from the pond deck again last night:

Treats from the pond deck last night

When I visited on morning rounds, I found them all on the bank by the pond deck:

Ducks on the bank by the pond deck

I rearranged the run a bit to provide more shade without having to move the shade panel to access the duck house, which was probably a waste of time, since they’ve found their own shady spots:

Rearranged run

I’ll probably remove the temporary run this weekend, if they’re done with it.

The ducks on the bank from above:

Ducks on the bank by the pond deck

They explored the back lawn a little:

Ducks on the back lawn

Hunting for tasty bugs:

Ducks on the back lawn

Enjoying the afternoon shade:

Ducks on the bank by the pond deck

A view of the pond, back lawn, and brown gazebo, with the ducks by the grasses:

Ducks on the bank by the pond deck

Mealworm treats on afternoon rounds:

Ducks on the bank by the pond deck

Ducklings day 56: the great outdoors

Last night the ducks all spent the night outside for the first time.

A cam shot from the previous night; maybe the last night they will spend inside their house:

Ducks inside house

Yesterday morning, eager to be let out:

Ducks inside house

A swim yesterday evening:

Evening swim

Evening mealworm treats (did you see the video posted earlier?):

Evening mealworms

When I went out just before sunset to close up the duck house for the night, they chose to stay outside. I closed the maintenance doors, but left the pop door open, so they could go inside from the pond if they wanted. Here they are just after sunset, maybe regretting their choices, but I’m sure Bert was reassuring them that it’ll be fine — he’s slept outside since he first went into the pond a year ago:

Evening