Week 7

Midweek is my chance to disconnect from the ups and downs of loving living things and simply update on the facts of our flock. This week marks the beginning of their seventh week of life. I'm sad that we're down one baby, but feel fortunate to be left with 12 beautiful, healthy duckies as well as one very kind but very odd duck. (No pun intended). Now that they are solidly teenagers, they're pretty used to our daily routine. In the mornings, I feed them and let them out into their yard. In the afternoon, we give them greens and spend time with them. And in the evenings, we give them feed and lock them up for the night.

Ducks love routine. So do I, really. When evening comes, it's fun to watch them anticpate the next "step" in our routine. If I go to the back door they all jump up and run toward their house. If I walk past the yard, everyone comes quacking and eyes my every move. Sometimes, in their sheer excitement and anticipation, they even go into their house early and just wait. For hours! I find myself coaxing them out, "here, little ducky, eat some bugs outside." "There, there baby duckies, come out and feel the sunshine." It's usually to no avail and I try to hold off on my judgement, knowing that I do the very thing myself.

So now you know ducks love routine and you can imagine how trainable that makes them. We use a convenient method to get our ducks home each night. And now, without further ado, I present to you Pavlov's Ducks:

More after the jump....

 Week 7 has come with much more coordination than we saw in week 5. I call this one, "ducky fail."

 

 Here is a video of them coming out of their house one morning 2.5 weeks ago.

Look how small they used to be! Compare this to that first video and you'll see why ducks are the fastest growing of all waterfowl.