Ducks and geese are four weeks old today. It was warm by our standards…sunny and in the 60’s. So we decided to get out the new kiddie pool I ordered from Amazon.
The pool was less than $20, supersaver shipping, and has pop up sides rather than being a blow-up like our last one. This is nice because I did not have to make myself light headed, but it is not nearly as sturdy in the end either. If anyone leans on any side at all … like the dog who desperately wants to drink out of it and is not quite tall enough.. the side is going to collapse in and we will lose all the water. Since we live on tank water this would be catastrophic loss. We get 800 gallons a week and no more. Filling a kiddie pool is an extravagant use of water at our house.
Since it is such a luxury to have all that mosquito breeding water sitting around I told the girls I would let them play in it first. They were inside putting on suits faster than I thought possible. They splashed around and Tekoa squirted them with the hose. After 30 minutes or so we started capturing ducks so they could get a turn.
The ducks were moved to my extra large pea-bed earlier in the week so they would have more room. While this has been a great move for the birds, the extra space makes it really really hard to catch them. There is a frame and some netting built onto the bed for growing peas. This really easy to get tangled in as you are reaching for birds. We used a rake and a bucket and finally caught all the stinkers.
The girls, because they are odd and mine, decided to continue to wade around in the pool with the birds. They also made sure to announce they were not going to sit in it because they did not want poo on their butts. Well thought out.
The last time I let the ducks swim was at school and they all became way too chilled. This time they had a freak out blast. The one goose kept taking dives under the water. They are still not feathered out so this was hilariously strange looking. Sort of like if a big plucked chicken gone torpedo.
We let them all swim for a good 20-30 minutes and then Chilly started looking like she had her fill. We caught them all and put them back in the pen with extra fresh dry grass. They all fluffed right back up and a few kept trying to swim in their water. I guess once they got a taste they realized swimming was the bomb.
Ducks:
3 mixed Brown and Black with little bank robber masks = Rouen Ducks Straight run
3 light with black spots on body and feet = Ancona Ducks Straight Run
2 small solid brown = Khaki Campbell Females
2 large solid light yellow = Embeden Geese Straight Run
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