Burning Cuteness!

[trystinn]

This evening I made the difficult decision to take the ducklings away from Lucy. She's unable to keep them with her, which means they were very much in danger from the owls, local cats (including Libby) and Doodle. Add to that the difficulties of getting them water (none of the outdoor waterers are low enough for two barely hatched ducklings and Starter Feed.

The smaller one, Kate, kept wandering off and getting into trouble. Typically, finding herself being played with roughly by Doodle. I rescued her a few times and popped her back with her mother, Lucy. Not an easy thing to do because the ducks run from me unless I'm feeding them. You can imagine the stupidity of me walking around our rough yard, trying to hand back the wanderer to her furious spitting mother. At one point, instead of running back to her mother, she ran back to me. At that point, I gave up, grabbed her sibling (William) and popped them in my jacket pockets. Yes, in a jiffy, jacket pockets are safe and warm duckling holders.

But really, you're just here for the pics, right?



In that first and last ones, you can see the bright yellowed colored 'bib', the hallmark of the Swedish duck which means these are likely Silver Swede/Khaki Campbell mixes. Yellow down turns to white feathers, for those curious.

Looks like I'm gonna need a new avatar!

Comments

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

They are made of adorable!

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

These were from that tiny nest between the pallet stacks. Can you imagine? :D

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Given that there's nothing to show scale, yes. They could be the size of teeny little peeps for all I know... ;)

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

I tried a few times to put something in the tub (what I use for these kind of pics) for scale, but they'd run to the opposite end of the tub in horror.

Hatchlings. *shrug*

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

You have probably seen this, but just in case not... http://wimp.com/duckpuppy/

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Yep, I've seen it. The sound drives Gracie bonkers, as you can imagine. I wish Doodle was as reluctant to be the duckling's buddy as this dog was.

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

I rather figured you'd be thinking in that direction re Doodle!

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Its not really Doodle's fault. When you think about it, we set dogs up to get into trouble. We give them furry toys that squeak when you step on or bite them, then we encourage them to do it again. Then we get mad at them when they do the same to live critters.

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree. If Chris ever got near any sort of ground based bird, they'd be snacks before you could get close enough to stop him.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Gracie and Flash would be fine. My biggest concern is a double-header of Doodle and Libby. We've never had an issue with Libby killing one of the baby chicks or ducklings, but I've always been able to keep them tucked up away from her until they are bigger.

[hagazusa.livejournal.com]

Lurve!!!

[wild-heart.livejournal.com]

What I'm imagining is the expression(s) on your face during all of this.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Fairly annoyed, would be my guess. I was hoping the pens could hold them, but they are just too small. Once they are a bit bigger, we'll be okay unless I can wire some smaller netting in place.

Luckily, I still have the brooder going - with bantam cochins in it, so I just popped them in there. Oddly, they are about the same size.