Ducklings!

We always knew we wanted chickens for eggs, and we had discussed getting ducks to add to the egg production and facilitate serious slug eating.  The prospect of having to provide a duck pond was too daunting to make us really consider it....until now.  As I've posted before, I'm taking a permaculture design course this summer, and last weekend was our first meeting.  While the course made me question our decision to till this first year, it also solidified my desire for us to have ducks.  One of the 'fathers' of permaculture said, "You don't have a slug problem, you have a duck deficiency."  Ducks are excellent foragers of critters that eat your garden, but they won't eat your garden like chickens.  So, midway through the weekend, I texted Anna and told her we needed to get ducks, and we needed to do it in the next two weeks.  I'm more concerned about the chickens picking on the ducks than vice versa, and our chickens arrive in just about a week and a half.  We did some research, and we were lucky to find a local source of ducklings!  :)

We're ready and waiting!

Given that ducklings and chicks have similar requirements, we were pretty close to being set up for ducklings, but this just shortened our prep time.  We drove about an hour south to get our babies.  They are Khaki Campbells (though, admittedly, they're not purebred), which are known for their laying ability, and they're supposed to be good foragers. Under ideal conditions, we'd get day-old ducklings so that they might imprint on us and not be scared, but we were only able to find 2-week old babies.  When we picked them up, it was clear they weren't kept under the best conditions (they were staaaaanky), and they were pretty scared of us.  We're committed to having, at least, friendly ducks, so we're holding them a lot, and making frequent visits to their pen.  In the two days we've had them, they are making some serious strides towards not being afraid.  They still don't like the act of being picked up, but most of them calm down within a few minutes.  All but one of them has a name, and we're just waiting for the last one to tell us his/her name.  We don't know if they're male or female, but regardless of how it turns out, their names will stick, I'm sure.

Now, for what you've been waiting for....

Day 1 -- they're a little freaked here.  The yellow thing is their heater -- they're safer than heat lamp on the fire front.

Here I am holding Fern.  Her name comes from that she seems to be really calm and sensitive -- we love sensitive ferns (yes, that's a nerdy botanical reference)!

 In the wild, ducklings get a dose of their mothers oil to coat their downy feathers, so without her, they're susceptible to becoming water-logged and can easily drown when swimming.  We've opted for supervised swimming at this point. :)

Today was their first swim in the bath tub. We chopped up some greens so they could dabble for them. We're working on their pond outside, but they're not quite outdoor ready -- or maybe we're not ready for them to be outside.

Now for the ridiculously cute...