Mad Murduck
Chirping
Seeing as I love my 3 week old ducklings more than most people I know can stand,I thought I might get some of this out of my system in the proper venue.
They are a non stop source of joy and entertainment! I was gifted a large dog pen so I set it up in my garage and made it duck friendly, for the next few weeks anyway. (I am a wood worker so giving up my garage is not something I would do for any old reason.) They were immediately much happier and more friendly, I suppose seeing more than the bath tub is comforting. Hands are something to run toward now! They have followed me outside a few times now to forage and have a brief swim,I am absolutely thrilled at how smoothly that process worked. Food and water have been upgraded to buckets with head sized holes for access, they have all but given up the heating pad,greens are spoiling them already and I am over my fear that they are eating everything that they put in their mouths. They peep oh so loudly to tell me if anything is remotely out of sorts ,which leaves me confident and well informed. This leads me to the curious aversion, I covered a large plastic tray with 1/4"hardware cloth to make a catchall for their water because as you all know ,they get it everywhere and it was not well received . It is only about 2" tall so they can step right up and they jump much higher than that to get on top of the heating pad so I dont think height is an issue. I realize that they are slow to accept change so I gave it a few hours, they would reluctantly walk on it take a sip of water from the bucket and vocally express disdain and general malcontentment . So I removed the tray and like moths to a flame they came rushing as if about to die of thirst. No problems since,as long as I dont put the tray back under the water. I am we ondering if maybe it didnt feel stable enough under foot? I am positive that I'm overthinking it but my curiosity has the best of me. Any thoughts or musings? Also ,here are a bunch of duck pictures!
They are a non stop source of joy and entertainment! I was gifted a large dog pen so I set it up in my garage and made it duck friendly, for the next few weeks anyway. (I am a wood worker so giving up my garage is not something I would do for any old reason.) They were immediately much happier and more friendly, I suppose seeing more than the bath tub is comforting. Hands are something to run toward now! They have followed me outside a few times now to forage and have a brief swim,I am absolutely thrilled at how smoothly that process worked. Food and water have been upgraded to buckets with head sized holes for access, they have all but given up the heating pad,greens are spoiling them already and I am over my fear that they are eating everything that they put in their mouths. They peep oh so loudly to tell me if anything is remotely out of sorts ,which leaves me confident and well informed. This leads me to the curious aversion, I covered a large plastic tray with 1/4"hardware cloth to make a catchall for their water because as you all know ,they get it everywhere and it was not well received . It is only about 2" tall so they can step right up and they jump much higher than that to get on top of the heating pad so I dont think height is an issue. I realize that they are slow to accept change so I gave it a few hours, they would reluctantly walk on it take a sip of water from the bucket and vocally express disdain and general malcontentment . So I removed the tray and like moths to a flame they came rushing as if about to die of thirst. No problems since,as long as I dont put the tray back under the water. I am we ondering if maybe it didnt feel stable enough under foot? I am positive that I'm overthinking it but my curiosity has the best of me. Any thoughts or musings? Also ,here are a bunch of duck pictures!
