What to do for ducks in hot weather

[new2ducks]

Isn't that funny? I never knew a duck could pant!

 

[HauiBali]

I thought a tray of icecubes will be good in their basin but - after some close inspection - they found it somehow suspicious so they removed all and thrown out to a batch of bedding (mown grass, they love to rummage in it). Maybe they cool it down with it as they like to rest in the steam?

Very-very hot right now in Hungary, and we live on the middle of the great plain:

38 ºC (=100.4 ºF) at 8PM..
It was a good idea to assemble their house near one of our deepdrilled well.. I'm thinking about making a drip-system irrigation row around the ducks' area, and the water can come from the duckpool's drain, this way I could keep the pump working on low speed - ducks can have cold and clean water, and the water from them goes to the flowerbeds and trees, so it will not be wasted on just one site.​

Also, should I take out the dry spike (awn?) from the ducks' coat or can they make it themselves and I should not overreact? I'm asking because we have to take it from the dog's and the cat's coat sometimes, it can pierce their skin badly. ​

And today is a happy day, first real feathers are visible on their upper arm and on their sides, my two runner ducklings will definitely be mallard colored

. Still unknown their gender, but at least one of them is a girl I guess: ALWAYS chirping, a little bit nippy, and tweets hysterically when I pick her up, girls do this, I observed

The other is much more quiescent and has longer neck.

Here is a picture of my father as he feeds them with a bit of egg&iceberg salad: