MR DUCKS

Frances, Lucky, and Duckers are just over a month old and they have become big birds!  The're by no means babies anymore.  They still have a little bit of yellow duckling fuzz around their heads and necks...right now they kind of look like they've got a touch of the mange!  Ok, it's not that bad, but you can definitley see more big duck feathers than duckling fuzz.

We're in our awkward stage....



All three ducks are getting their big bird feathers.  Their tales, chests, and wings already have actual feathers.  Directly behind their wings and in front of their tail is more of a white down undercoat that is really soft.  If you've ever come across a bird feather you notice the base, or "quill" is a hollow stem-like shaft of the feather that is round and hard, almost like a fingernail.  Growing out of the quill is the inner and outer vain, which is essentially the soft part of the feather.  The quill and the inner and outer vain grow over time and depending on the size and type of the bird, can be extremely long, or more or less on the shorter side.  Right now the ducks have their actual feathers, but they're still growing so they're short and not full length.  As they grow out the white down will be covered up and will no longer be visible.

You can see the quills of their feathers growing out of the wing.

Soft down feathers.



There's a reason the term bird brain was coined.....where parrots might be considered intelligent, ducks, not so much.  Each of our 3 ladies (this is still an assumption, I still have no clue if they're ladies or gents) has it's very own personality that distinguishes itself from the others.  Although it might not be obvious in observing them from afar, you can tell instantly when you go to pick them up. So far in the order of niceness, Lucky would be #1, followed by Frances, and then Duckers.  They'll all run from you when you go to pick them up, but once you have Lucky, she pretty much rolls with it and will sit in your lap.  Frances isn't too much of a fan of being held, but sometimes she deals with it better than others. Duckers....she's the loud mouth of the bunch.  She squirms like crazy when you pick her up and then squawks her head off.  Not exatcly Miss Friendly.  And since they're getting pretty big, their little duck claws aren't so little anymore.  If they're really thrashing around when you pick them up they can scratch you pretty good.  Best to have long sleeves on for a little protection.

Killing some time in our new digs outside.

Big clumsy duck feet.

In sync preening

Now that they're getting big, the ducks have been spending a little quality time outside.  We've been getting them outside for about an hour in the evenings after work as long as it's not to cool and windy.  This past Saturday they had most of the day outside.  They really enjoy it.  Since they're getting so big they've almost outgrown their indoor pen entirely.  Getting them out gives them an opportunity to get out and stretch their wings, plus they get a chance to dig for bugs which they seem to like :)  This Saturday they also got their first taste of watermelon, which they weren't sure of at first, but seemed to enjoy after initial examination.



I just love the duck to the left in this picture...