The books all say that one should wait until ducks that aren’t raised by their moms are a bit older (at least 3 weeks old) to get into the water for the first time.
They’re getting so big!
Ducklings raised by their moms will get oil from the moms’ oil glands, and warmth after the swim from the moms sitting on them. Since we couldn’t provide either feather oil or someone who could safely sit on them without squishing them, our ducklings had their first swim yesterday, at three weeks.
The weather has been gorgeous, and the ducks have been spending their days outside in a pen, which means less mess inside and more fun and fresh air for them. So swimming was merely a matter of setting up a fake pond in their little enclosure.
Hannah uses a spinach lure, but they’re still convinced it’s a cooking pot.
At first they treated the pond as prey treats a nasty predator (bodies of water have been known to attack without warning, of course),
but once Hannah popped one of the ducks in, they all got excited and each had a swim.
The ducks’ antics were totally amusing to everyone. When Cleo got in, she surprised us all by swimming around the bottom of the pond several times, fully submerged. Very funny.
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