Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 40

Now Duck Daddy had been away in Washington DC for nearly a week, and returned to find his girls had grown up.

So here are the tales of the days I was away:

While in Washington the girls ended up in another public appearance. Last they posed for Runner Duck magazine, and now we find that they have once again appeared in print this time as teenage heartbreakers in Art Throb. Follow the link to read the story.

Now they also started doing things they had not done before. We were ready to put them outside permanently at about six weeks, which we are just coming to now. Well, at five weeks I was away, and they started giving Duck Mama heck - just like teenagers.

They got faster, they started showing a little more independence, and did not want to come back inside after being out for hours. But, of course that independence was not independence from one another - only from us. They did not want to be picked up, so our extra large family sized pool brooder became a difficult place to catch these now Olympic speed duckies.

They also started quacking loudly. Now that their voices were changing from cute little squeaks to larger than life honks, once Bev would take one duck outside all the rest would start making a fuss. Of course the fuss does not stop until they are together again. Duck Daddy laughs when this happens. Duck Mama does not, and becomes a little flustered hoping the ducks won't hurt themselves as they jump onto the back deck and try to run in the house to be reunited with their sisters who still haven't made the transport outside.


Upon my return I noticed that there were some significant changes in the girlies. They had some rather ugly feathers on their wings before I left for DC. As can be seen in the pictures their quills were showing making them look like they needed to join the Hair Club for Men. Upon my return their feathers had all filled in, and their wings looked significantly better.

Having returned from DC, I am now setting up their outside pen. The area is about 16' X 16' and I will eventually make part of the shed into their duck house. A hole will be cut into the side of the shed, and a duck house will be built inside the shed. For now we have a dog house which will do the job.

That's all for now. More observations tomorrow I am sure. The ducks amaze us more each day.

Did you get your own ducks yet? We are advocating for urban mini duck farms, and having your own eggs each morning.

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