And then there was

one. *sigh* I lost one of the new babies this morning. I thought that one of them looked sorta puny last night, the other duckling was cuddled up close to it. This morning, the poor dear couldn't even hold it's head up.

I tried all the recommended things, some honey water, some fresh greens. No good. Prayer. Nope. (Well, sometimes the answer is "no", even if we ask with a fervent heart)

I know that I did all the right things. Trying to make the poor baby as comfortable as possible. It just wasn't meant to be.

I took the other ducky outside with me (since the weather was so warm and sunny) and had the carrier down where the other ducks would be around it. It was so cute, the baby would peep, and the other ducks would come up and inspect him. They would sit close to the carrier, making him part of their flock. (I call the duckie "him" because he reminds me of Houdini in how he keeps trying to escape the carrier! His name has been changed to Houdini.) I love how the ducks all try to flock together and include him as much as possible.

Another new thing! The older ducklings FINALLY discovered that we have a pond. Hooray, no more schlepping out fresh water bowls for them to drink from all the time. I am not sure how they missed the ponds all this time (especially when we kept putting them INTO the water), but they sure were avoiding them for the longest time. Hubby said that they were playing in the water this evening (I only saw them drinking from them, and I was plenty happy about just that), eating the pond plants and splashing all over. There goes the neighborhood!