Pictures of my babies!! Picture overload...

[JessiLynn]

I knew they would be cute... but I almost can't handle the cuteness... They have such personality already. They are 7 Welsh Harlequins ordered from Metzer Farms. They just came in today, and I had to tear myself away long enough to post these pictures. But you guys have been so helpful, I felt that I had to share some of the cuteness! I'll try to post a video later.

So, a couple questions... when can they take their first short swim in the tub. For how long should it be, and imagine the water shouldnt be very deep? I am feeding them Purina Flock Raiser, and a few of them were shaking their heads quite a bit while eating so I went ahead and wet the food a little. It seems to have helped.

Also, can we add little elastic bands to their legs to tell them apart? Most of the females are really hard to tell apart... with the exception of one female who lacks any dark brown on her face. We've named her Harley. She seems to be the smartest and figured out how to stand in the water dish before any of the others.

Okay... lots of pictures following!! My male is the duckling with the purple tape on his leg.








Originally I had the water inside this dish with rocks around it, but it was just too awkward for them, so I moved it to the side to deal with the new set-up. Harley and the other random duck wasted no time in playing with the excess water.



My first water dish...Apparently the open was cut a little too big! hahah




Look at that fuzzy down... and the little wings!!



The wing on the back... kills me.



That is my male, he is quite the poser. Didn't mind my camera at all. They are actually all really okay with my hands near them. Not skittish at all.



My girls were so excited!!







All 7 of them. I'll keep updating this because I really want to document their growth!

 

[Kaessa]

 

[Skyfire]

How adorable!! I was wondering about bath time too, what temperature the water should be.

 

[Kaessa]

I waited until mine were about a week old, then started with a little pie pan full of warm (body temperature) water. Gave them about 5 minutes, then put them right under the brooder light to warm back up.

They're now 10 days old, and I fill up the bathtub just deep enough where they can still stand up, and I give them about 10 minutes. Water the same temperature. Just make sure they don't get a chill and get right back under the light to warm up. Dry them off if they're wet. Make SURE they're never unsupervised, even for a second, and watch for them getting waterlogged or tired.

 

[JessiLynn]

I waited until mine were about a week old, then started with a little pie pan full of warm (body temperature) water. Gave them about 5 minutes, then put them right under the brooder light to warm back up.

They're now 10 days old, and I fill up the bathtub just deep enough where they can still stand up, and I give them about 10 minutes. Water the same temperature. Just make sure they don't get a chill and get right back under the light to warm up. Dry them off if they're wet. Make SURE they're never unsupervised, even for a second, and watch for them getting waterlogged or tired.

Thank you! That is very helpful.

 

[Amiga]

We started baths at two days (don't anyone panic). It was an inch of 90F water in a baking dish. I just used water the same temperature as the brooder, and only up to their bellies for the first few weeks - never left them alone for a moment. Baths lasted 5 to ten minutes - till the first duckie started looking tired, then back to the brooder.

Have you seen the Sticky on Raising Ducklings? Link to Stickies in blue letters at the top of the Duck Forum.

Thanks for the photo's of the littles. Mercy, those itty bitty bills! Those winglets! Those tiny webbed feet! The peeps!!!!

Duckling legs grow FAST. Like, half an inch a day. You watch - I am not kidding, they grow fast. So please please be careful about any kind of leg band.

 

[Kaessa]

Now that's a lot of ducks in a bathtub.

 

[JessiLynn]

We started baths at two days (don't anyone panic). It was an inch of 90F water in a baking dish. I just used water the same temperature as the brooder, and only up to their bellies for the first few weeks - never left them alone for a moment. Baths lasted 5 to ten minutes - till the first duckie started looking tired, then back to the brooder.

Have you seen the Sticky on Raising Ducklings? Link to Stickies in blue letters at the top of the Duck Forum.

Thanks for the photo's of the littles. Mercy, those itty bitty bills! Those winglets! Those tiny webbed feet! The peeps!!!!

Duckling legs grow FAST. Like, half an inch a day. You watch - I am not kidding, they grow fast. So please please be careful about any kind of leg band.

It is soo cute watching them jet through the water! Adorable, thanks for sharing. I've read through the duck stickies, but I think I need to refresh my memory! So, I guess we won't use any sort of a leg band. I just really wish I could tell them apart. I guess we will just have to wait until they start getting a little older to distinguish ideas unless I can come up with a safe way of marking them.

 

[needlessjunk]

Very cute! I love them. My girls went swimming in a paint tray at 4 days and the water was pretty warm. The next day I put them in the tub with a bath mat so they wouldn't slide around. One end was very shallow and the deeper end went deep enough for them to stand comfortably. Each day it got a bit deeper but one end was always shallow enough that they could stand no problem. I let them swim till they looked done. 5 mins or so for the first few days. I used a blow dryer on low and warm to dry them off so they wouldn't get cold.

 

[Honey Maid]

JessiLynn those are some GREAT photos! I never did get any good shots of my ducklings. You will be amazedto see how fast they grow! Good that you got the largeer bag of feed, you'll need it!