Ducklings are cute. There is no doubt about that. I’m pretty sure that little fact is what my cousin was banking on when she started texing me pictures of them. One morning I get a text, “How many ducks do you want?” The next morning I got pictures. As you can probably already guess, her tactics worked. We’ve talked a couple of times since moving here about getting some, but we’ve never discussed it much more than that. Lando recently mentioned wanting the Mallard looking ones from the local farm store (Rouen ducks I have since learned). This past Tuesday evening we drove out to pick up three or four that are being considered a “barnyard mix”. We left with five. (She got me again! LOL) We are assuming that four of them are little Pekin ducks. Cute little yellow guys that may or may not grace our table at Christmas. I guess that depends on which family member you talk to- their role around here remains to be seen. The fifth one is mostly black with a little yellow on his chest and mottled black and yellow feet. They are all so little and cute!
Ducklings are water lovers. Obviously, I know that ducks love the water, but these little goofy guys are insane! The moment we got them home, we put a chick waterer in their brooder tote of shavings. A full quart of water. Gone in minutes. Originally I thought they were just thirsty from the trip and stress of what was going on. They seemed to be drinking as much as they were wasting by smacking their little beaks around. We set the waterer inside a cake pan to try and keep the shavings as dry as possible – you’ll see how that turned out… The next morning- a fresh quart jar of water- gone by the time I left for work. I shouldn’t say gone necessarily. The jar was empty but there was plenty in the cake pan. And five little ducks trying to squeeze themselves in there to swim. Lando and I came home straight from work and school and checked on them and gave them a refill before heading off to 4-H. Guess what we found when we got back? Another empty water jar! The messy wetness of their shavings was proof that they weren’t drinking it all (which I’m smart enough to know), but I am still amazed out how quickly they can empty that thing regardless of where the water ends up! Wait- an idea!- I’ll swap out the feeder (the kind with a lid on it and holes for little beaks to fit down inside) for the waterer and use a smaller feeder for actual feed. Brilliant! Maybe. It did help slow down the disappearance of the water. They couldn’t get their feet in there to splash around anymore, but they could still splash with their beaks and make those cute smacking/motorboat noises as they managed to empty it again. Even when they are making a mess of their water sources, ducklings are still cute.
Getting our feet wet 
Getting our feet wetter 
The end to the wet feet…maybe…
Ducklings are stinky little buggers. This fact does take away from the cuteness a wee bit. It was raining when we picked them up Tuesday evening, and it was a bit chilly so we opted to keep the tote in the living room with the heat lamp on them that night. Wednesday was still a little bit chilly so we figured another night wouldn’t hurt before we moved them out to the garage. Young animals, especially small ones, don’t always handle the stress of moving to a new place with new housing and new food very well. We didn’t want to rush their transition and risk losing one. But by Thursday afternoon when I got back from the farm store with a fresh bag of shavings I was not worried about that one bit! I put them in a separate tote “designed” for swimming (one of the large rubber feed pans fit down in there perfectly and there was room on the ends for them to get out of the water if they should choose to do so.) Let me tell you- the funk from a day and a half of these adorably cute little ducklings soaking the crap out of an inch of pine shavings is a special kind of funk! WOO!!! I gave them a good hour of swim time under the lamp while their brooder air dried in the garage. And in the garage it stayed. It is not coming back in the house. Those little guys (or gals, we have no idea) will just have to huddle closer together if it gets chilly out there.
Ducklings are fast growers. We have upgraded them to the metal water trough with the special heat lamp top so they have a little more room to move around in. The top of it was designed to hold a heat lamp over one half which can be raised and lowered as needed to adjust the temperature. The wood surrounding the lamp opening helps to trap in that heat for more consistency. It also has a wood partition that comes about halfway down from the lid to block heat from escaping and creating a “cool” side to the trough. We’ve had these guys less than a week and they are noticeably bigger. In just those few short first days, they were already outgrowing the brooder tote we had them in. Their little fluffy butts are showing signs of real feathers. It won’t be long and that soft baby fuzz will be gone 🙁
Ducklings are fun. They cock their head to one side when you talk to them and stare out you with one eye. I’m not sure if they’re just trying to get a better look at me standing over them or if it’s to hear me better, but they will all do it at the same time. It’s very quirky and it’s hard not to chuckle a little.
I really need a duck in my life. Loved reading the duckling antics