Ducks are so much fun!

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This past spring we decided to get 6 ducks to add to our collection of animals. A sort of dabbling into raising farm animals. I realize that ducks are not usually part of a farm scene but we do have a pond on our property and we thought that they will most likely fly away once the cooler weather comes. We thought it would give us an idea on the amount of work we will have to dedicate to other animals besides our Rottie and two cats which some days are quite a handful!

Here they are when we first got them this spring. Aren't they just adorable!

We had a large plastic tub and they stayed in there for the first couple of weeks. Can you believe we kept them in the kitchen? Yep, and they were so cute to listen to during the evenings. The cats didn't bother them and Sampson our Rottie would just peek through the top of the container and watch them. I think he thought they were one of his lost squeaky toys! As they grew, we began taking them outside to stay in a screened-in area of the yard. In that area we placed Sampson's old doghouse and the ducklings were quite content to dig for bugs and waddle around their space.

Here they are getting bigger already.

Their first trip to the pond was a joy to watch. Not having a Mother to teach them (and I wasn't about to go in the pond!) they had to learn how to swim, dive and watch for predators. We would worry about them those first few times and it was quite difficult to get them out of the water when it was bedtime! After the first night they spent outside, they peeped at me so loud the next morning as if they were saying... " You left us out here in the dark all by ourselves!"



Teenagers!



Now they run around, play and don't leave the pond even at night. We lost one to a predator but all the rest are doing quite well. We know now we have 4 females and 1 male and the male is so handsome! The male does have an injured wing but seems to do alright. They have brought much joy to our lives and now we wait to see if they will leave us soon. If not, I will be hauling water this winter!



All grown up!