We got our first two ducks on March 19, 2015. Brielle and Declan helped pick them out - one yellow and one brown. All the grandkids loved the ducklings. Pippin and Gimli loved swimming in tubs and a wading pool. We moved them from the terrarium to the bathtub. They even lived in our shower for awhile!
Pippin and Gimli grew quickly, and Marty added on to our chicken coop on April 13. He added an indoor coop inside the chicken coop, and a duck run along the outside of the chicken coop. We moved them outside. By April 28 we were giving them outdoor time in the chicken pen.
Soon we realized that they need more swimming room. A large water tank had been left on our property when we moved in, so Marty and Eli cut it in half and set up an aquaponics garden duck pond on April 30. Quackaponics? Photos from April 30 - June.
Sadly, Gimli disappeared from inside the coop after about a year. We wondered if he flew away, so we draped more netting on the outside part of the enclosure. Nayeli became our #1 duck wrangler. Pippin was lonely so we let her hang out with the chickens. She came to the door to beg for grapes, and she even got broody for awhile (which was sad since she no longer had a mate).
We were confused and sad when Pippin also disappeared from inside the coop in July of 2017 (the day after the photo of her at the door). We wondered whether a person could be stealing ducks, because there was no blood or feathers. So strange! We weren't ready to give up on ducks. Two days later we adopted three full-grown ducks from Rhiannon and Jason's neighbor. Big Bird, Olaf and Olga were thrilled to move into a pen that had a good pond for swimming.
Only a month later we lost Big Bird. This time we suspected a fox because we found broken duck egg shells, as well as some digging along the edge of the duck enclosure. We filled all the holes in, and set up a live trap.
Oh, how I wish we set up security cameras! We thought we had taken care of animal predation by animal-proofing the coops. After Olaf disappeared one evening (totally our fault, we didn't tuck him in before night time... they often wandered around near the coop in the evening, going in and out of their pond area and we had become lackadaisical) we decided to get more ducklings. On March 10, 2018, we got not two, not three, but FIVE ducklings! The grandkids helped us choose the ducks - two big Pekin ducklings and three mixed two-day old ducklings.
The girls decided to name the three little ones Bambi, Thumper, and Flower. We hadn't decided on names yet for the two big Pekin ducks.
The ducks grew so quickly we changed their homes six times in six weeks. They started out together in one terrarium. The guys at Tractor Supply said we shouldn't leave them together because the two Pekin ducks could hurt the small ones. They bonded very quickly, however!
The Pekin ducklings were already 8-9 ounces when we weighed them, and the other three ducklings were 3-4 ounces. One week later they had already doubled in size. We moved the Pekins into a larger tub, but they kept trying to get to the little ducklings. One Pekin tumbled into the terrarium, and we were worried they would hurt themselves.
At two weeks old we moved them all into the garage with a space heater, inside of Marty's spray booth. We had a big tub (the bottom of a carrier that goes on top of a car). They were glad to have more room, and they cuddled together once they were reunited.
By Easter we had moved the ducklings out to the chicken coop, in a small pen inside the coop.
They loved the pond, when we led them outside. They were learning to get along with Olga, our older duck. At first she was very scared of the big Pekin ducklings - they were bigger than she was! The ducklings also enjoyed their excursions outside into the chicken coop. We were glad to move Olga out of the chicken coop because the chickens had been pecking her eggs.
Olga was such a sweet duck. She would follow us all around the yard. She'd yell at us as soon as she heard us outside. She wanted to get out and play in her mud puddle. She'd mutter and nibble at my shoes and beg for meal worms. As soon as I walked out in the evening, if she and the chickens were loose, she'd come running and quacking so that I could put her and the hens away.
By April 18 we had the five ducklings and Olga all together in the duck enclosure. The ducklings loved to sun themselves in the duck run on the outside of the coop. Sometimes we found them in the indoor pen, sometimes in the pond area. Olga was laying eggs outside in the new duck clutch we had set up out there (Marty planned to enlarge the outdoor duck area). They also all loved to come outside for excursions to Olga's mud puddle.
Yesterday afternoon (April 21) we went outside and the coop was too quiet. The duck and ducklings had all disappeared! We found that someone had rolled a pole away from the outside run, and sliced the plastic mesh. Someone stole all of our ducks - Olga, Bambi, Thumper, Flower, and the two big protective (two month old) Pekins. We are devastated. We called the police, who came promptly. The officer inspected the area, agreed it was a person that took the ducks. He was baffled. We spoke to all our neighbors. I suspect that somebody wanted to eat the Pekins.
We have asked for prayers to help us with the sadness, grief and betrayal. Marty wants to find ways to protect our property. I don't know if we'll ever have the delight of funny, talkative, personable ducks again. This is heartbreaking.
I found one last beautiful duck egg laid by our funny, sweet Olga.
