We learned with chicks that a wading pool will only confine even tiny birds for a short time. The perfect place this time seemed to be the unused (and deep) jacuzzi tub in the downstairs bathroom. Contained, waterproof and easy to clean, it even had a handle to clamp the heat light on. Everything we had read had stressed how wet and messy they are. We had no idea!
It seems most baby anythings are cute, but ducklings really take the cake. They waddle around peeping like little squeaky toys - rubber duckies are spot on. Their sweet fuzzy heads and tiny bills just beg for cuddling and their delicate little flippery feet feel like nothing else I can describe. They make little smacking noises when they drink, and their bills move so quickly that they vibrate against the feeder and water bowl. We couldn't believe how cute they were!
We also couldn't believe that they were so afraid of us! Or that they were so messy and stink so bad! And nothing we read prepared us for how WET they got everything. They shrieked and ran anytime we got near. We picked them up to hold, hoping handling them would help tame and build trust and they really got loud. And their delicate little flippers? They had the sharpest little claws!
Cuddly, they are not. And smell, oh my goodness, the smell! The tub had to be cleaned daily, with all new pine shavings. They played in the water, spilled their water, spilled their food, pooped everywhere, and splattered and played in anything even remotely damp (including, yes, you guessed it). Baby chicks and ducklings are two very different creatures. I think "can't we send them back?" popped into more than one of our heads, more than once.
The first time I cleaned the tub, I put the babies in the shower with a dish of water to play in, thinking the barrier would contain them. It did not. There were tiny, wet ducks ALL over the bathroom, scrambling to escape me, shrieking loudly and POOPING everywhere! The shrieking was enough for me, but the pooping! Oh, the pooping. And they were soaked to the skin from the water they played in. Getting them dry and under the heat lamp was a little difficult (and definitely an urgent matter) when the tub still wasn't cleaned out. Something had to change next time!
The next time, we took the babies upstairs in a laundry basket for a cleanup in the that bathtub. They were a mess, with splatters of wet food and goodness knows what else all over them. We ran a few inches of warm water and upturned a casserole dish in the middle so they could rest if needed. Seeing the tiny little ducklings, only a couple days old, take to the water and actually swim...maybe they weren't so bad after all!
They zipped under the water, popping up in different places, paddled around lazily, dunked their heads, bathed, and made little blowing noises underwater. And while they quickly turned the water green, we realized that maybe we just needed to adjust our expectations. They really were amazing little creatures. Recently hatched, never knew their mama, yet instinct told them how to do what they were born to do. It made me think about us more "complex" creatures, how we start out with parents to guide us and schools to teach us, and still reach adulthood searching for our purpose.
In a matter of two weeks, they had quickly doubled their size and were too crowded in the jacuzzi. They had also become too heavy and big to all be carted upstairs in a basket for the daily bathtub swim while their tub was being cleaned. With the weather warming, they would soon be able to coop up with the chickens. In the short lived meantime, they moved to a metal trough in the garage. The stink was out of the house!
Now fully feathered, the duckies (silly to call them ducklings, but not quite grown enough to be ducks) sleep in the coop with the chickens at night, graze the backyard during the day and go for swims at the pond when we're home. They're still unsure about us, but will eat from our hands if hungry and begrudgingly allow us to help them up the ramp into the coop at bedtime. They are a little hysterical at bedtime, just wanting a place to sleep, and get really excited about their food in the mornings. They remind me of toddlers in so many ways, wanting to do it all themselves, but not really able to yet. And while they are not the cuddly pets we expected, they are a welcome addition to the pond, doing what they are made to do.
