Tea Time for the Peepies

We had a warm, humid day in Humboldt Co., so the Peepies got a lot of yard time. Mostly bathing during the day—lots of splashing, some bathing—but when I got home I decided it was tea time.

I put their water out, then picked through the strawberry patch for soft or bug-eaten berries. I even dug up some worms for an added kick. They went nuts.

We can still tell them apart pretty easily, not just in size—Blackie is about a quarter the size of Big Spots—but colors, too. Blackie, Brown, Blonde (we're hoping), Big Spots, Little Spots, and No Spots. In the picture above, Brown is in the middle, Blackie is lower left, Little Spots is lower right, Big Spots is closest to the watering can, No Spots is top left, and Blonde is to No Spots' right. They will be two weeks old this Thursday.

Several of the ducklings are now using their oil gland (at the base of their tail) while preening their down. Nobody is quacking yet; that won't happen for several weeks yet, and will be our first indication of who is a boy and who is a girl. (Girls quack; boys don't.) They are expert little dabblers, and will empty their quart-sized watering can in about ten minutes.

Curious ducklings ask, "Is that edible?"