More ducklings day 58: one big happy flock

This is the last of the daily posts concentrating on the new ducks. Starting with tomorrow’s Flock Friday post, I will include pictures of all of the ducks together, as one big happy flock.

The older and newer ducks still mostly stick to themselves at present, though do hang out together as well, like this; all 13 ducks in the leafy pond:

All the ducks in the pond

Over time, I expect they will become more and more integrated.

Everyone enjoying mealworm treats:

Mealworm treats

Mealworm treats

A bunch of pictures of the new ducks from the hidden path on the west side of the pond:

The new ducks

The new ducks

The new ducks

The new ducks

The new ducks

Duck butt:

The new ducks

The new ducks

I hope you’ve enjoyed watching these ducks grow up from one day old to eight weeks old. They grow so fast! Stay tuned for the weekly Flock Friday posts, to watch how they and the older ducks get on, plus the chickens and wild birds.

If you want to relive the fun, check out the “ducklings 2020 again” tag on this blog to view all of the posts for the newest ducklings in chronological order. And if that isn’t enough, the “ducklings 2020” tag will show all of the posts from earlier in the year.

More ducklings day 56

Getting to be about time to conclude the “duckling” posts. Maybe one or two more, then reducing to the weekly Flock Friday posts.

Last night, the ducks swimming for mealworm treats:

Swimming for mealworms

This morning, on the pond bank by the duck house, having just gobbled some leafy treats:

On bank

Sassa and a couple of Rouens:

Sassa and Rouens

A procession of Sassa, Clara, and three Rouens (one peeking around the rock):

Sassa, Clara, Rouens

Them gazing over the pond:

Clara, Rouens, Sassa

Around noon, some ducks enjoying the shade of a shrub next to the pond and pond deck:

Ducks in shrub shade

Ducks

A Rouen showing off her shiny wing:

Wing

More ducklings day 54: mucky night pot

Today’s no-longer-ducklings post includes some night shots, some meals, some treats, adding another island to the pond, and mucking out the duck house. What’s your day like?

Spotted on the repositioned mobile cam, the new ducks finally got hungry enough to go find some food inside the duck house, which I’m leaving open overnight currently:

Duck dinner

Some older ducks hanging out by the house:

Ducks by house

A GIF of a duck getting startled (I think Betty, hard to tell in the night vision); perhaps a fish nibbled her toes:

GIF of startled duck

Ducks by their house:

Ducks by house

Breakfast:

Breakfast

Eating mealworms tossed from the pond deck:

Ducks

Ducks

Comfy groundcovers:

Ducks

Ducks

Lunch:

Lunch

New ducks on the ramp:

Ducks on ramp

This afternoon I moved a large spare ceramic pot to the pond, to serve as another island for the ducks (yes, it was rather heavy):

Large pot

I waded into the pond, and positioned it so it was at around water level. Here’s the new one in the foreground, near three others. The new one should be big enough for two to four ducks, depending how cozy they get:

Upturned pot islands

A GIF of ducks swimming, recorded while I was standing almost waist-deep in the pond (in my waders):

GIF of ducks

Then I mucked out the duck house. Here it is after removing the waterer:

Duck house

Since I was adding fresh straw every day, it had built up quite a thick layer, about four inches:

Deep straw

After hauling several loads of dirty straw to the compost bins, I came back to find food strewn over the floor; it seems someone had been by for some food while I was away:

Food

Looking at the cam now — yep:

Ducks

Fresh straw:

Straw

Much better:

Duck house with fresh straw

Today I have two GIF summaries, since the GIF works better with uniformly-sized pictures. So first a summary of all of the camera shots I captured (except the last one above):

GIF summary

And a second summary GIF of the photos from my iPhone:

GIF summary

More ducklings day 53: a day outside

The new ducks all survived their first night outside (as expected, they weren’t at all interested in going back inside the duck house when they had the whole pond environs to enjoy).

Here are all of the ducks — old and new — on the pond bank when I did my morning rounds. Still separated, but together:

Ducks on the pond bank

Betty and the new ducks were happy to accept some leafy treats (the others got some too, but weren’t as excited):

Leafy treats

Leafy treats

Sassa:

Sassa

A couple of Rouens:

Rouens

Betty and the new ducks on the edge of the lawn by the pond:

New ducks

Rooting in the grass:

Rooting in grass

Rooting in grass

Rooting in grass

At the duck house, I removed the kiddie pool, since they don’t need it anymore, and moved the food dish into the run area, as a step towards discontinuing it and just using the feeder tube inside the duck house:

Removed kiddie pool

The removed kiddie pool drying off:

Removed kiddie pool

I also moved the mobile camera (that was watching the run) to a better position to watch the pond and bank:

Camera

This afternoon, they were still sitting on the bank:

Sitting on the bank

Sassa having a good stretch:

Sitting on the bank

This is becoming a pattern: a summary GIF of all 42 of today’s pictures (actually, the first few are from last night, after yesterday’s post); again, some of these that weren’t included above may turn up in next week’s Flock Friday, so enjoy the sneak peek and bonus pics:

GIF summary

More ducklings day 52: into the pond!

Today’s the big day: I removed a panel of the duckling run and opened the pop door, letting the ducklings into the pond. Which I consider their graduation to calling them just “ducks”.

I said yesterday that I wasn’t sure when I’d do that. One reason I decided to proceed was that one of the Rouens got out of the duck house last night. She pushed open the cupboard door from inside the nesting box, and hopped out:

Duck house escape

(The cupboard doors are held shut with roller catches, so require a little force to open.)

Here you can see her outside the gate on the left, watched by others inside:

Duckling outside

Here’s a picture of her when I went out there and discovered her outside; I opened the gate and encouraged her back in:

Duckling outside

I felt that was a sign that they were antsy to explore more of their world, and since they’re old enough, decided it was time.

I started this morning the same as ever, with fresh straw and leafy treats:

Morning treats

Then I removed the run fence side by the pond, letting them into it; Betty came over to say hi, as she often does:

Removed run fence side

The new ducks on the edge of pond:

Ducks on edge of pond

And entering the pond for the first time:

Ducks entering pond

Sassa was the second one in:

Ducks entering pond

Some pictures of the new ducks in the pond:

New ducks in pond

New ducks in pond

The two groups kept mostly separate, though interacted a bit:

Ducks

Did you see the video?

Betty seemed concerned about Sassa; at one point I saw her nudge Sassa when she was having a little difficulty in getting onto the pond edge (something she got better at with practice):

Sassa escorted by Betty

Sassa still looks messy, but that should improve with more swimming. As expected, her gimpy leg wasn’t so much of a problem when in the water:

Sassa

The new ducks spent a while hanging out in the shallow end by the waterfall (which is currently off):

New ducks in pond

New ducks in pond

New ducks in pond

And on the bank by the waterfall:

New duck by waterfall

New ducks in pond

This is by the duck house:

New ducks in pond

Betty spent some time hanging out with the new ducks on the edge of the pond by the waterfall:

Ducks on edge of pond

After a while, Sassa went back in the duck house for a rest and preening session:

Sassa

A couple of hours later, looking much better:

Sassa

Some new ducks and older ducks hanging out by the waterfall:

Ducks by waterfall

Here is a big GIF summary of 72 pictures from today (it might take a while to load); some of these will probably appear in next week’s Flock Friday:

GIF summary

We now have 13 ducks on our pond; Bert from the first batch, six from the second batch, and six more from the latest ones.

As before, I’ll probably continue the daily “More Ducklings” posts for a few days, then save up pictures for the next Flock Friday.

More ducklings day 51

Another day in the duck house. When will I let them into the pond? Soon! How soon? I’ll let you know when I do!

It’s always fun to dig through fresh straw. And look at those shiny feathers:

Ducklings

Rouens with leafy treats. It’s hard to capture a picture without too much motion blur, as they’re moving quite fast:

Leafy treats

How fast? Here’s a GIF of a Live Photo, with bits flying everywhere:

GIF of leafy treats

This is a little blurry, but funny:

Leafy treats

Hey Sassa:

Sassa

The daily Clara feather check; still not quite ready:

Clara feather check

A GIF summary of 18 photos today, with motion blurry treats and more Clara and Sassa pics:

GIF summary

(Yes, Sassa got some treats too; she doesn’t like to join the fray, but I always make sure she gets some.)

More ducklings day 50 (start of week 8)

The big 5-0. No summary GIF today; I took relatively few pictures, due to being busy with other stuff. But still some fun shots.

They really enjoy ripping bits off kale stalks:

Leafy treats

Leafy treats

Um, you have something on your bill. Several somethings, actually:

Dirty bill

A funny expression on Sassa:

Funny expression

Clara’s wing feathers are still growing; still not quite ready for the pond:

Feathers still growing

More leafy treats:

Leafy treats

Watching the duck butts in the pond, as the older ducks dive underwater:

Duck butts

More ducklings day 49

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:

GIF summary

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):

Silver Swedish Sassa

All of the ducklings… really ducks now:

Ducklings

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

Colorful Rouen

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

Tomato

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

Fingery treats

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

Silver Swedish Sassa somewhat swimming

Silver Swedish Sassa somewhat swimming

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:

Silver Swedish Sassa

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

Khaki Campbell Clara

Clara swimming:

Khaki Campbell Clara swimming

Splashes:

Splashes

Raising out of the water:

Raising out of the water

Two Rouens:

Two Rouens

Two Rouens

Two Rouens

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

GIF summary

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.