The first grade class at Natalie’s school raises eggs and ducks every spring as they learn about the biology of an egg and the difference between hens and ducks.
Each family has a chance to bring the ducks home and care for them. This past weekend was our turn. We took care of last year’s ducks last summer if you remember. We’re pros.
At least I thought we were. Saturday afternoon while I was away for a few hours, the ducks were swimming in their rubbermaid pond and the kids and sitter were playing in the driveway. By the time they remembered to check on the ducks, one was under the water, one was keeping afloat on his back and the other was struggling to keep swimming. We are now down to two ducks. I’m so sad.
Disclaimer: This post contains a sponsored link.
(c) 2016 Leighann Marquiss
Comments (6)
Awww, I am so sorry. How are the kids dealing with it?
oh no. So sad ;( I’m sorry.
Lee Ann, you are much too kind to not mention the “sitter’s name” as the one who should have noticed that the ducks were tired from paddling in the water. I [Mary Roberts, the sitter] am sorry that you had to be the one to face the teacher and talk about how the duck school project has had a “revision.” I wish I could say that I was teaching the kids a foreign language, or orgami lessons and that is why I was not paying attention — but I was pushing the kids in a plastic car in the driveway. You should get creidt for handling things quite well when you got home and were told the news. I am glad that I got the chance to see you and the kids before the Pittsburgh move, but I am afraid that the ducks wish they never saw me.
I feel your pain. We have a baby chick… to keep permanently…and it is a constant worry that it will die.
Stephanie
Here is the real reason the duckling drowned. Ducklings don’t produce oil right away and instead get it from rubbing up against their mother. A coating of oil is necessary on their feathers to keep them bouyant in water. No oil = sinking duck. If they didn’t have any way of getting up out of the water it died from exhaustion trying to stay afloat. This would never happen to a well oiled duck! Please tell the teacher to educate future caretakers that the ducks should only be put in shallow water(where their feet can touch), or have a way to get out!
Hatchlings should not be given free access to swimming water unless they have been hatched naturally by other ducks. The feathers of a young duckling are not sufficiently developed to properly protect them for extended periods in the water and they do not produce enough preen oil to waterproof this plumage. In the wild, a mother duck will monitor the time her ducklings spend in the water as well as supplying additional preen oil to supplement what is produced by the hatchlings.