They're feathering up!

Billie's first three hatched are now 4 weeks old.  Yesterday morning, Monday 9.7., I was in the duckling enclosure to pick raspberries and to clean out the hut [what a wonderful combination of jobs!], and I'd even remembered to bring the camera.  I'm going to swamp you with photos now:

The two at the back of this photo are the two that hatched first, the one front right was fifth.  I can be so sure of it because you could see the markings on the little ones from the start.

Nos. 2 and 1



7 days later these 2 looked like this:
  

Nos. 3 and 4 [the third, in this picture at the top, is the one that drowned in the bowl]

No. 5:

                                                                                                                                     No. 6 front left

No. 7

                                                                              Granddaughter Sarah and her friend Gabi are holding Nos. 8&9

I've numbered them on this photo, too.  Several of them are very similar in their markings, especially the 4 light coloured ones:

I'm just a little bit disappointed that there are no fawn&whites among our nine ducklings, it doesn't look as if Ben managed to pass his genes on.  Joseph, Tuts and Jay-Z are the dads responsible to judge by the colourings.  This is a photo of young Joseph and Tuts from last August, front right:

It's time I stopped reminiscing and got back to yesterday's photos.  We had a day almost without rain - but it's back to the normal wet today.

My american friend Pam wrote recently and suggested a name for one of the youngsters, "Jubilee", in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  I had intended to wait a bit with naming this bunch until their colours and characters had developed a bit more, but I thought the first born and biggest of them should have this name now [he's not quite diamond-coloured, but it's the closest we have to it].

In this photo he's top right, nearly as big as the adults!

 










 

Moving the food station out of the mud was a very good move, even the smaller ones are in and out of the gate like yo-yos, helping themselves freely to the grains.