"Houston We Have Ducklings"

I can't believe that it's already been about a week since these little ducklings were just eggs!!! :) (These pictures were taken only a day or two after they hatched, so they're quite a bit bigger now!)

My brother has some ducks (three to be exact), and about a month or so ago, the oldest of the females started gathering her eggs into a nest and sitting on them. Then about a week ago, the first little duckling appeared, then another, and another, making a total of three adorable little fluffs of feathers. :) They were a lot smaller than I had expected them to be from what I'd seen at Tractor Supply! (If you're not familiar with it, they have a time in the spring called "chick days" when they have a whole bunch of baby chicks and ducks for people to buy, and you can go look at them and hold them, it's really fun.) And we named them Houie, Douie, and Louie–according to the order that they had hatched. So let me introduce them to you. :) (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger if you need.)

Below is Mrs. Mama Duck (her real name is just "Duck", but we've taken to calling her Mama Duck) and two of her babies (Houie–the yellow one in front–and Louie–the dark one behind).

Here's all three; Houie, Douie, and Louie. I love this picture 'cause it makes them look like tiny conspirators!

And here's Houie again (who I'm for some reason always and forever wanting to call Howie! And I'm not exactly sure why. . . . Maybe it's the way I've been spelling Houie. . .).

Houie, however has been having some troubles, and we're not exactly sure what all was wrong with him. So a few days after hatching (like the day after I took these pictures I think), we had to bring him in to try and nurse him back to health, 'cause he was just getting more and more weak, and we were afraid that he wouldn't last another day out with the other ducks (the Mr. in particular. . .). So we brought him in, and for about two days we were carrying him around snuggled up next to our chests with our hands wrapped around him, trying to keep him warm and comfortable. After a bit his eyes started to get crusted up and stuck together, and he was virtually blind, but after an accidental dump in the water, we realized that that could be washed off. So after washing the crust off of his eyes, he started to eat more and began to get more energy. Now he's continually gaining more strength and interest in everything around him, and he's growing at the same rate as the Douie and Louie outside. Our hope is that after a little longer he'll be strong enough to go back out and join them (if they'll accept him back in). :)

. . . Bet I had you expecting me to sadly tell you that he had died, huh? ;) lol. For the first few days we were absolutely certain that he wouldn't last another day, or even through the night. But God is good, and now he's doing really well! :) But I'm actually kind of glad that we went through that. Because now we have one of the ducklings that we can pet and hold, and that will snuggle up in our hands and even come on occasion when we call it! (Yup. That's right.) If he was still outside, he would be running away with the other two, acting like the boogy man was alive and coming after them. lol. . . . That gives a funny picture.

Assr vísa ykkarr or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~