Day #5: May 17, 2011

I had to get up early this morning to get the ducks taken care of before school. I mean, 5:30 early, which is a whole huge lot earlier than I usually get up. When I checked on the chicks, I noticed that the hospital I had built for the injured, small chick was empty, and when I counted the chicks in the bin, there were indeed 16. Apparently, she felt well enough to rejoin the flock, so I figured, who am I to try to isolate her? She's still smaller than the other chicks, but none of the others are acting like she is, and all of the others are starting to get their wing and tail feathers while she is not. Well, she has a few, but she is quite delayed.

I've heard that there is often a cannibal in the group, and that they will peck a weak one to death as soon as they sense weakness. She did seem to have some missing down on her back, and she didn't like when I tried to touch that area, so maybe she has been pecked. I hope not, but only time will tell.

I took the ducks swimming again today in the plastic wrapping paper bin. It is clear that they are too big to do that again. The first time I put them in, they were very, very tentative about the process. When they finally decided to move into the deep end, they were only paddling their feet, and one decided to push off the side and dive under his/her siblings. But by and large, it was baby ducks, floating cutely, looking pretty much like fuzzy rubber duckies. This time was different. They were all diving and pushing off of the sides, and they were kicking so much and so hard that I was practically soaked for babysitting them. I set the timer this time for 7:00 minutes, since they still seemed interested at the 5 minute mark last time they swam. Despite his/her awkwardness on land, Lefty is a decent swimmer. Not as decent as its siblings, but s/he can get around OK. I hope it continues to be able to do ducky-things, despite its deformity.