Humpday Featherkid Posts

[trystinn]

A very typical Pacific Northwest Spring day, today - rain and wind. The older ducklings are still tucking themselves away at night all by themselves, moving between the two levels for food and water within the hutch. I couldn't be happier with them.

Now that said, protect your eyes, you have been warned! (Worst yet - videos!)

Profile shot of the new ducklings:



One of the Mystery Ducklings, quacking like crazy (as she does night & day):

Lots of wing flappage:

Comments

[wastedmouthfull.livejournal.com]

Dey so cuuuute.
Ok so I have books to take to the paperback store, books for you and your books.
hmmm a theme ducks and books.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Lately, that's my life! It's surprisingly difficult to film ducklings as often they just sit there and look cute, instead of waddling about doing cute things.

I have an hour of such on the camera. :)

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

11 for brunch tomorrow sound good?

[wastedmouthfull.livejournal.com]

Yep sounds great, I need a brunch. :)

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Brenda had to cancel, but she hopes to join us next week perhaps.

Brunch would be nice. :)

[laughter311.livejournal.com]

Is that poop they're eating?! O_O

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Nope, it's actually duck starter that stuck to their feet walking about in it.

[laughter311.livejournal.com]

Oooh!

They're adorable.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Aren't they something? I keep hoping they are all girls. *crosses fingers*

[laughter311.livejournal.com]

Do you name all of your pets?

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Yep, it's a bit difficult to tell the ducklings apart at this point.

The Khakis~
Bernard (drake, we think)
Bianca
(Lucky) Penny
Madame

The new ducklings~
Mystery ducks - Luca(s) & Beatrix
Rouens - Brutus & Nero

[unique-thesame.livejournal.com]

They're just so adorable! Makes me miss growing up when we had 100's of them around every spring.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

They are insanely cute, they also insanely poop!

I used to watch the baby Mallards and Wood ducks at Central Park & Prospect Park but never thought I'd have them on my own property as an adult.

[wild-heart.livejournal.com]

Ouch! My eyes!!!

That's not quacking so much as the painfully adorable peeping. Wait . . . are these really Peeps with batteries?

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Animatronic peeps, eh?

Luca, the Loud One, we call her. Geesh, she really ratchets up there in volume. Gracie is at her beck and call whenever she does so.

[alfrecht.livejournal.com]

Cute!

Now, I know nothing of ducks, so you'll have to excuse me if this is a stupid question, but:

When they get older, how will you keep them from flying away? Or will they fly away and come back because they're trained to think of Duckgard as their home?

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Not a stupid question, hon.

At this point, most domestic ducks have been bred to gain muscle for meat to the point where they cannot fly as they are too heavy. Rouens, bred to resemble Mallards, can't fly at all. Some ducks can flutter a bit, but tire easily. Runners cannot fly or waddle, at all. We'll likely have to clip the flight fevers on the Campbells, as they can fly over short fences when spooked. Fortunately, they'll grow too heavy in adulthood to do that.

It's really odd what selective breeding has done for domestic birds - turkeys are so large they cannot breed naturally anymore and must be artificially inseminated.

Weird, eh?

[man-of-snows.livejournal.com]

Mojo and I like the ducks for different reasons. His ears perked up at the peeping.

[thevillainsmind.livejournal.com]

The cute hurts. And I love teeny wing flappage. Freakin' adorable. =)

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Teeny wing flappage must be some kind of hobby for them, they do it nearly constantly. Oftentimes it ends up knocking them over.