These are my brand-new ducks, and I am their brand-new human. They were born February 10, 2020, at the Fifth Day Farm hatchery in Narvon, PA--in the beautiful Lehigh Valley. My friend Nancy and I drove down to pick them up, to spare them a plane or Fed-Ex ride to my house. Instead they got a three-hour ride in a very warm car. But, fun fact, new-born birds absorb their yolk sac into their bodies and can live on it for three days.
I had prepared their new home in a large Rubbermaid tub in a room off the kitchen. A lamp with a 100-watt bulb hung where it would give them 95 degrees of warmth. A feeder (see photo) held their water. They need room to dunk their bills when they eat, to keep their nares (nose holes) clear. I am becoming a font of duck trivia. But they should not be able to dunk their whole selves until they get a little older. A little bowl held their chick starter/grower food. Newspapers covered the floor of the tub, to keep it dry and clean. Ha!
My first job, when they moved in, was to show them where the water was. You do this by holding them and ducking their bills into the water, like one of those plastic novelty birds from my childhood. Then it was just a matter of their figuring out which was the hole and which was the plastic part in between. They learned this by persistence, trial and error, and copying each other.
Watered, fed, and warm, they settled down, using each other as feather pillows, and began an adorable process of nodding off. First, their eyes would close, then their heavy little heads would nod forward until their bill hit the floor. Then their heads would roll to the side.
Click here for more posts.
Love the description of them falling asleep :)
ReplyDelete