our ducklings are here! hubby went and got them at the post while i finished off the cage and cut a bunch of greens for them. when he got back, they were all chirping, that's what baby ducks do, in the box, all crammed together. hubby said he sang to them all the way home! :O) i took all 20 plus-one-out, one by one, and put their little beaks in the water. they all took to drinking just fine. then i put a bunch of greens in the water and they ate those up. they were ravenous after being in that box for 30 plus hours! then, after gorging on the greens they took a nap, all huddled together in a corner. hubby was working on a heat lamp set up then. after an hour i put in their duck food and boy did they go nuts! eating and throwing food and water everywhere. they got soaked...and they're not supposed to get soaked! i had a very large waterer for them and it was too big a trough. they were having fun swimming in it!!! so i switched to the smaller waterers but for some reason the water bottles would only hold water in the bottoms. i called the place i bought them from and found out that they had the wrong bottoms on them...for feed not water. so we'll have to get the right ones next time we go to town. once hubby put the heat lamp up, they all dried off pretty quickly. i keep a dry t-shirt or towel laid out in one area of the cage for them to sleep on and congregate. today ed'll be making another larger cage. 20-plus-one ducklings is a LOT! so far Curly (dog) is too low and can't see them but is curious. Lizzie (dog) adores them. Tux (cat) is ignoring them. and pete, (cat) dear pete is confused! once they were settled, i put pete on the table with them and he just watched in awe! so far so good. they started peeping at 4 this morning. they seem to recognize me as mom, and they love hubby's voice...probably the singing on their way home yesterday! :O) we took some pics and i'll post them a little later today. got to go cut more greens, and plant more, too! forgot to mention that they are Welsh Harlequins.
Well Bunkie-- Congrats on your new additions. They sure sound like fun. it sounds like you will have quite alot of room for them too. I shall be looking forward to seeing some pics.
here's a few pics of the new 'kids'... duckies 1 duckies 2 duckies 3 duckies 4 pete & ducks 1 pete & ducks 2 pete's in shock!
They are ADORABLE! Have I missed part of the story??? Do you have a big old pond for them in your garden?? I love birds and they are just way to cute. I can just picture them as they grow older, waddling along behind you as you walk around the garden. Very cute indeed.
I love that last piccie Bunkie - the look on the cat's face is hilarious. It would make a great caption competition photo.
What an adoreable group of ducks, Bunkie...The fotos are well worth waiting for. What a look on Pete's face!
They are very cute little babies, Bunkie! Pete's expression is priceless. Maybe the ducks will follow Pete around! Haha, that would be funny.
thanks for all the great comments all! i read them to pete and he enjoyed them as well! daisy, that would be a riot if the ducks followed pete around! i'll have to see if i can coordinate thaat for more pics! so far he's just ignoring them. ej, i dug out a small pond a long time ago when we first had ducks. hubby's expanding it. they really love swimming and the water.
update on the duckies. they're 2 weeks old today... rainbow...we're not seeing many of these as the sun's been gone most of the last 3 months... moving ducks from inside pen to outside pen, love those tubtrugs... first one in! second one and counting... and more in the pool... pete needs a nap after watching the ducks all morning...
Another set of great photographs. Those Welsh Harlequin ducklings are sooo cute. Pete seems to have found himself a great new hobby in watching over them.
