I'm sure everyone is wondering how the ducks are doing, by now named "Zachary Quack" (the mainly yellow one) and "Pretzel" (the darker one). (I didn't pick the names, let's just leave it at that.) Here they are, a mere 10 days old, enjoying their daily bath in our kitchen sink, practicing dodging and diving. At first we thought Pretzel was a little "slow" but now he or she (and that issue will remain unsettled for many more weeks) has packed on the ounces and found a real zest for life.
I'd like to report that Thomas runs to my side when I tell him that it is time to feed the ducks and give them clean water (they like to swim in their water trough--very annoying!) but he always squeals like a stuck pig ("Ewww! They stink!") and gags very dramatically and stumbles about the room helplessly. The ducks themselves are, actually, very clean since they spend almost all their time splashing about in their drinking water. The problem is that because they splash all the water OUT of their drinking water onto their wood shavings and, because they still need to be under a heat lamp set to 90 degrees, the wet wood coupled with their crap ferments to a really ripe acidic stench. But, still, Thomas is making much too big a deal of it and in another two weeks they'll be big enough that they can handle regular room temps so it won't smell so much. But I'm betting Thomas will still squeal.
2 comments:
How did you learn to be duck parents?
xM
Ducks are pretty self-sufficient, actually. The first day was scary, only because they seemed so fragile and complained continuously. But I think they were just surprised to find themselves out of a shell. I read up quite a bit before getting them but the woman working the store (there is a chain of "feed stores" here) gave me more information than you can possibly imagine--and quite a few horror stories about the evils of people buying ducklings and chicks for Easter presents "who do NOT know what they are doing!" involving bowel impactions, bowed legs, swollen legs, splayed legs, and on and on. You just wouldn't believe all that can go wrong with duck legs if you are an ignoramous who has no right to own a duckling. I set up their house the week before I had them and then went the Wednesday afternoon that they get their duckling delivery and picked out the two liveliest--which made the drive home a noisy affair. They had no idea how to drink water, no idea how to eat, it was ridiculous. I guess I thought such things would be programmed in them. And human fingers really are not the best devices for spoon feeding a baby duck. But once the yellow one figured it out, the spotty one, Pretzel, copied him (or her) immediately. And, as you can see from the pictures, they seem to inflate before your eyes. Every time I look at them they are larger than the time before.
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