Just tell yourself, Duckie, you’re really quite lucky!

‘Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?’ – Dr Seuss

One evening, our very lovely neighbour turns up at our door, completely by surprise, with 2 orphan ducklings who needed some care!

She figured we’d know how to look after them… well, no! But although we have never kept ducks, we figured raising ducklings couldn’t be that different to chicks or poults! So a quick bit of checking things out with Dr Google, and off we went!

We named them Donald & Daisy (we have no idea of the sex though) with Donald being the one always on the go, jumping & running everywhere. Daisy was more content to sit and chill out.

They were so tiny to begin with, and could squeeze through the (very small!) bars of their cage which caused some hectic situations! A particularly funny one was when we were all sat at the dinner table eating our evening meal and suddenly this little ball of fluff ran past! Cue a mad chase around the house trying to catch it… they really are super fast!

In the beginning they would cuddle into us for a nap, which was very cute too.

And sometimes they just fell asleep literally where they stood!

Then, as they got a little older, came the time to teach them to swim! We began in the kitchen sink as is tradition 🤣

They loved the water as you can see!

Because they are not feathered yet, so don’t have natural waterproofing (and no mama duck to provide it for them) we have to make sure they are nice & dry after their swims so they don’t get ill. Eira enjoys the chance to get up close with them during this!

Now… well they are becoming properly feathered and much larger. Swimming lessons now take place in the bath, and very soon we will move them into their permanent home outside.

It’s definitely time for the move though as they aren’t keen on being handled now and wow they do smell & make a MESS!!!

So much for not taking on any more animals this year!! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🦆🦆