Today, just a few photos. It’s a hot day, so we left the pool in the duck house all afternoon, to help them cool off. Technically they’re not ready for that for another couple of weeks, but they’ve been sensible about not staying in the water too long, and it’s easy for them to get out thanks to the sloping tray and ramp, so avoiding getting too hot is more important than a low risk of drowning.
Today I removed the baby duckling feeder, so they now have the full-sized feeder tube and full-sized water dispenser.
Now that the ducklings are big enough to be able to eat from the feeder tube, I was planning on removing the feeder for young ducklings (actually designed for chicks). Early this morning one of the ducklings briefly got their head stuck in the feeder hole, so that was a sign it was time:
The morning pic:
I removed and rinsed out the baby feeder:
Duckling swim time:
The water is cloudy as I dumped the remaining food from that feeder in the water; they might as well eat it from there rather than wasting it:
Afternoon swim time:
You can see a couple of them eating from the feeder tube:
More eating from the tube:
Today I replaced the waterer with the full-sized one, and hand-fed lettuce treats to the ducklings.
The usual morning mess, with the old waterer:
The full-sized waterer. It is heated, to prevent the water from freezing, though that isn’t plugged in currently; I won’t bother connecting that until wintertime. It also has a larger capacity, and deeper cups from which to drink, which is needed now that their bills are growing:
Hand-feeding lettuce treats; they were hesitant, but several were brave enough to approach and grab them:
A funky head shake:
Dunking; you can also see one drinking from the new waterer:
Afternoon peek through a nesting box:
Afternoon swim, with Bert’s supervision:
Bert drinking water draining out of the duck house:
Today was a rainy day, but the ducklings made their own rain inside the duck house by splashing around in the pool.
Hey there:
An animated GIF of the rain on the pond and Bert by the duck house:
A better quality static shot of that (the lettuce on the roof was waiting to be given to the ducklings):
Bert and the ducklings:
Another GIF of Bert and the ducklings chattering at each other, with more rain:
Later, some ducklings under and on top of the EcoGlow:
Afternoon swim during a break in the rain:
Lots of preening:
GIF of spreading tiny wings and preening:
Tiny wings again:
Video on the Dejus YouTube channel: Today our ducklings discovered the joy of swimming.
Today, the ducklings discovered the joy of swimming.
But first, I liked the color variations of these three cam captures, of the night-vision, early morning, and lighter morning:
Amazing what a difference it makes to the light level just having a vent open.
The traditional morning greeting:
I put the paint tray pool back in the house. Bert took a peek:
They took the bait of treats:
Oooh, it’s wet:
Hey, I like that:
Everybody (almost) in the pool!
Dunking duckling:
An animated GIF of that picture; you can see dunking underwater, and the one at the top of the ramp preening, which helps spread the waterproofing oils:
Afternoon swims:
I’ll continue morning and afternoon supervised swims for the next couple of weeks, until their 5th week, removing the tray before I depart each time. After that, I’ll be able to leave the tray in there full-time. About three weeks after that, at about their 8th week, they’ll be able to go into the pond.
Today I introduced the ducklings to leafy treats and the swimming pool… with mixed success.
Good morning ducklings:
Remember how I said yesterday that they’d be eating from the top feeder tube hole in a few weeks? Well, make that the next day:
What’s that green thing?
Only took them a moment to investigate it and realize it’s a tasty treat:
Next up, I added the paint tray swimming pool and ramp, with a little water:
Some hesitantly went up the ramp, but they weren’t so sure about that:
That’s as far as they got. I’ll try again tomorrow with treats in the water.
This afternoon, I briefly had another go, without any more success (but without treats). Bert wasn’t providing any encouragement; he avoided the tray when he was a duckling:
It’s warm today, and they were panting a bit, so I opened the vent above the door, and cracked the main vent:
I still left the heat lamp on, though, so they don’t get too cold overnight. They need around 76° currently, which is about the current air temperature, though it’s warmer inside the duck house. It’ll get down to 54° overnight, so still need heat.
Grown ducks are very hardy, able to cope with freezing and really hot temperatures, but ducklings are much more sensitive.
Today, a little rearranging of the duck house, in preparation for introducing supervised swimming tomorrow.
The morning mess; changes in store:
I moved the baby food dispenser to in front of the pop door, the water dispenser to the right side, the EcoGlow into a nesting box, and added more straw:
That makes room for the paint tray pool, which I’ll introduce to them tomorrow:
I’ve seen a few of them eating from the feeder tube. Remember when they couldn’t reach it? In another few weeks, they’ll be able to eat from the top hole:
An angled view of the EcoGlow in the nesting box:
I like how the two Blue Swedish ducklings (top-left) are standing identically. The left one is female, the right one is male:
They seem to like the new position of the EcoGlow; I’ve seen them actually using it:
Your daily duckling dispatch.
Sleeping ducklings:
Not sleeping ducklings:
Let there be (day)light; I opened the cupboard door:
The usual morning mess:
Bert checking on the ducklings while I refilled their food:
I raised the heat lamp; they need lower temperatures each week. Fun fact: not sleeping under the lamp tells me that they are a little too warm:
The usual pictures of the ducklings:
Refilling the water dish from the hose; if you compare to the previous cam picture, you can see the raised heat lamp position, too:
On evening rounds, peeking through the nesting boxes below the cupboards, I caught a duck on top of the EcoGlow:
He really likes it up there; just now I saw him hop up there and stretch his tiny wings (animated GIF):
And sit for a while:
Your daily dose of ducklings.
Good morning; looking damp as usual:
The daily top up of fresh bedding:
And water and food:
Hey Bert:
I added a dish for his food; easier to eat out of water than on the ground:
