My bib overall wearing nay-saying wonder buns now has two females in his life working against him. Although he never really gave me an answer about baby ducks, he didn’t actually say no either. Jenna, our wonder girl, gifted me baby ducks, and they arrived yesterday. I am referring to Jenna’s surprise gift of baby ducks as The Quack Attack…it just makes me giggle. Jenna came to work with a box full of fluffy, yellow balls of delight. Eric may have had an idea they would be coming, but he didn’t know for sure. Two things were working in my favor 1) They were a gift from Jenna. Jenna is golden in Eric’s book. 2) Eric didn’t have to do anything to ready for the baby ducks. I don’t blame the man for not wanting anything else to take care of or feed.
I spent the morning readying the little green coop to house our new fluffy balls of delight. I cleaned it, swept it, removed the roost, filled it with clean wood shavings, filled a waterer with fresh water and electrolytes, filled a feeder with chick starter that Jenna also considerately provided, and hung a heat lamp. The little green coop is like a cozy little duck resort. I am smitten with these little ducks, can you tell?
In the time it took me to ready the little green coop, The Bean had imprinted on the little ducks. She had little ducks cuddling on her lap and following her wherever she went…inside the house. Sigh. When I returned to the house to fetch the ducks, The Bean lay on the floor with baby ducks nestled against her. She excitedly told me to “watch this!” She slowly got up and started walking around the living room with ten baby ducks waddling after her quacking. It was so cute that I couldn’t bring myself to utter my usual phrase of exasperation, “Dammit, Bean!” My child was smiling from ear to ear, laughing with unadulterated joy. It was a sight to behold…in my living room. She informed me that they hadn’t pooped at all because they didn’t have anything in their little ducky bellies. I took her word for it. We hustled the little fluffinaters back into their box and took them to the coop.
The Bean dipped each of their small bills into the water and showed them the feed. Before I knew what was happening, The Bean had climbed inside the tiny coop and sat, looking gargantuan, inside with the baby ducks. She looked like Alice in Wonderland when Alice ate the “grow big” cookie inside the house. It’s safe to say; that my daughter loves the baby ducks too.
We are very grateful to Jenna for the gift of these lovely little fuzz balls. Even my bib overall- wearing grumpy pants, came out to gaze at the delightful little quackers. This morning, I went out to check on them as soon as I awoke. The Bibbed Wonder informed me he had already checked on them, and they were fine. He acts like a tough guy, but he’s really a big softie. Shockingly, he hasn’t uttered one word of complaint about the little ducks.
I can’t wait for them to get big enough to swim. We have four weeks before we can introduce them to the baby pool. I won’t take them to the pond until they are grown. I hope that Mildred, our lone duck, will join the babies and follow them to the coop each night. Ducks are like chickens; they come home to sleep at dusk. Putting them to bed at night is the only way we will be able to keep them safe from predators. Fingers crossed, Mildred follows their lead.
Until then, our poor lone Mildred sits beside our cars, quacking at her own reflection. Ducks aren’t the brightest creatures, but what they lack in brains, they make up for in adorableness. I’m quite sure that social media will be inundated with pictures of our little gifts of happiness between myself and The Bean. Now we need to name them. They are all girls, so it has to be girls’ names. I’m thinking old-fashioned names since we already have Mildred. I’m sure as time goes on and they grow, their little personalities will become apparent, and we will name them accordingly. If you have any old-fashioned name suggestions, please share them.
As always, dear reader, stay safe, be smart, may you have friends in your life who gift you baby ducks, and keep washing your hands.