Our Duck Babies

We became the parents of 6 little baby ducks after their mommy was hit by a car.  We came upon the scene and just had to rescue the poor babies.  All the websites we read and all the people we talked to said we shouldn't have taken them but my tender "mother" heart just couldn't resist.  We brought them home and only later found out it is a Federal crime to keep wild water fowl on your property...

Look at these gorgeous little guys, how could I just leave them by the side of the road to be eaten by cats??  They were so tiny and so cute!

We made them a little enclosure so they could spend some time outside each day.  We still brought them in at night to sleep in our closet.  We have raccoons and neighborhood cats we were worried about.

The first casualty occurred after we had them for just a few days.  They were so quick and would run around so fast that Julian accidentally stepped on one.  He, of course, felt super bad about it and came to me with tears in his eyes to tell me what happened.  Poor little "stomper"...he will be missed.

The babies getting bigger...it seems like they grew up over night!

"Stomper" 2.  This also was an accidental stomping.  He had gotten out of his enclosure and just ran right under our feet as we tried to catch him to bring him back to safety.

We were down to just 4 babies:(

Here they are about 1 week before we released them back into the wild.  They had a nice big swimming pool to play in.  They had a covered little area to sleep in at night.  They had lots of grass to walk around on (and dig duck holes into!)  They were getting so big and even starting to flap their little wings.

We found a beautiful little wet land near our neighborhood that we released them into.  They were a bit confused at first and didn't really swim around much.  After about 30 minutes they started exploring more and eating from the pond weeds.  They seemed happy but cautious.

After just a few days in the pond our babies were comfortable.  They were welcomed by the other few ducks that lived there.  Two of the babies were flying and I'm sure the other 2 will be there soon.  I miss having these little guys in my back yard.  It was sort of nice having them to watch and grow.  But in the end I'm super happy that they are back in nature where they belong:)