See today’s Flock Friday post for info on our evacuation state, and the rest of the flock. For the six rapidly-growing ducklings we have with us, they’ve settled into their new reality, and are enjoying their more spacious digs in the trailer pen. When we can go home again, it’ll be a downgrade for them!
Breakfast for ducklings:
Pool time:
Leafy treats:
More pool time:
Dinner time:
The ducklings all survived their night in the trailer pen (see yesterday’s post for info on evacuating with the ducklings).
Pool time this morning, after I refilled the tray:
They were excited for leafy treats:
Looking at me:
Visiting later, they woke up and came over to see me:
Eating after I topped up their food:
As mentioned earlier, we had to evacuate the homestead due to a nearby wildfire. While the older ducks can fend for themselves, the newer ducklings are too young, so we decided to take them to Mom’s place, along with our dog Rory and two pet cats Pippin and Paladin.
Here are the ducklings in a container in the truck, along with their food. This container has a rough hole and mesh in the lid, made previously as a chick brooder:
I kept the ducklings in the containers in the garage overnight, three in each, along with water and food:
They were rather messy in the morning:
Mom set up a trailer as an enclosure for the ducklings, even with the same kind of paint tray pool as they have at home:
They were eager to bathe:
Looking damp but more clean:
Scratching in the food dish:
Flapping little wings:
Jenn and Mom went out to get groceries plus some chicken wire for a cover to protect the ducklings, and straw bedding:
We added a bigger pool for the ducklings:
This evening I fully covered the trailer with tarps, and will leave them there overnight. It’ll get a little cooler overnight than they’re used to, but they should be fine if they snuggle together. I hope.
We (and most of the Portland region) are currently experiencing a power cut due to heavy winds. Fortunately, the ducklings are old enough that they should be fine overnight if the power doesn’t come back on by then.
Another issue is that I’ve noticed that the Blue Swedish duckling has a gimpy leg; she seems to be limping a bit, and not wanting to put weight on it. I don’t know if there’s anything I can do about that, other than hope it gets better, though I should try to grab her and see if there’s an obvious cause. Could be an injury, bumblefoot (abscess), or niacin deficiency, though the latter is unlikely since I add some to their food.
On with the usual pictures of treat time:
Rouen feathers growing fast:
The gimpy leg of the Blue Swedish duckling on her left, our right:
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:
Another hot day, though not as hot as yesterday. I restrained myself on the duckling pictures, though.
Tasty mud:
Pool time:
Pool splashing:
Treat:
The Blue Swedish duckling sitting in the duck house, ready to doze off:
More pool time:
Again I used the misting setting on the hose nozzle to cool them off, which they quite enjoy:
It’s a hot day today, so I went out to the duck house a few times to refresh their pool water… so I ended up with 40 photos. And just for fun, I’m going to share all of them! But don’t worry, I picked out the better ones as usual, and put a GIF of all of them at the end. So you can look through the better ones and skip the GIF, or jump to the GIF and skip the rest, or enjoy both. Or skip the whole post if you like. You do you.
Leafy treats:
As I showed in a video this morning, today I held the kale and let them pull off bits, which worked out well:
Crouching like that for quite a while wasn’t super comfortable, so on my next visit I added a concrete block with a kneeling pad to sit on, while I refilled their pool and spent time with them (the kneeling pad is mainly to protect my clothing from duckling poop; I don’t leave that in the run):
Ducklings in the pool:
A moth on the duck house:
Lots of splashing:
Later, when the temperature was over 90° F, I used the misting setting on the hose nozzle to help cool off the ducklings, especially the Blue Swedish, who doesn’t go in the pool:
Here’s that GIF of all of today’s duckling pics:
When giving the ducklings their kale treats this morning, instead of ripping it into small pieces and tossing it to them as I usually do, I just held some and let them pull off bits.