New Zealand Life

Duckettes (PB&J)

December 5, 2011
“Another bridge!” I crowed.
“Oh my gosh! It never stops!” Mom said. I laughed.
We were driving on a beautiful, windy road. Lush green trees and bushes carpeted the hillside just over the edge of the road to where my day-old Pekin ducklings had been born. We had brought a box with some newspaper in it to hold the three ducks that I would be taking home to take care of. My mom said she didn’t understand just what I loved so much about birds. Sure other animals, but birds? Really? But birds it is.

We had already decided we would name our ducks Peanut, Butter, and Jelly. Mom had come up with the amazing names and I loved them. We decided to call the littlest duckling Peanut, and the largest Jelly. When they got home, we let Jess smell them. She was curious and sort of afraid of them, but the ducklings turned out to love her. When we let them out on the tiled kitchen floor, they would all go waddling after Jess like she was their Mom (see video link page)!

December 8, 2011
My duckettes got their very first bath today. We filled the kitchen sink up about a half-inch with lukewarm water. PB&J loved it. Jelly when underwater, and Butter drank from the running water. Peanut was very well behaved and simply paddled around a little. We hope we got two girls and one boy duck. If we do, Jelly will probably be the boy since he’s still the biggest.

December 14, 2011
My ducklings have moved onto the bathtub (see video link page). They are way too big for the sink now. It’s amazing how much they’ve grown. They probably wouldn’t have grown so much if we hadn’t fed them dog food. I soaked a batch every morning, afternoon, and night so they got at least three cups of it each day (usually more). Mom already wanted them out of the house since they made a huge mess in their box.

December 21, 2011
My ducklings met Jaynee (see video link page). They were hilarious—they got put in the kitchen and then the first thing they did was run to Jaynee’s food bowl. They started to gobble as much as they could, and probably would’ve continued to do so if Mom hadn’t quickly picked up the bowl. Jaynee didn’t even really care about them cleaning out her food. Instead, she was interested in herding them. It was funny because they were practically bigger than her. They probably seemed like yellowish-white, webbed-toed, beaked cows to Jaynee! They had recently begun to get their feathers. I was excited about it, because they’ll look really pretty; Mom was really excited about it because once they do she can throw them onto the deck!

December 25, 2011
My duckettes spent their Christmas on the deck, I’m afraid. Luckily, it was summer, so it was a nice warm day for them. They got special lettuce and vegetable treats along with some extra dog food. The only way to tell the difference between them was by the markings that they were starting to get on their beaks. Merry Christmas to PB&J!

January 10, 2011
Ducklings got launched into the pond down in the meadow (see video link page). It took them a while to realize it was okay and that they’d be fine. We brought corn and dog food (of course) secured in a trash can so that they won’t starve.

July 2012
I still feed my duckettes dog food, and every time they see the Ranger ATV or me, the screech at the top of their little lungs demanding that they get their food. They don’t get fed as often anymore, only about once a week or fortnight. Peanut has turned out to be the only drake, because he has a curly tail. (Only drakes have curly tails.) Jelly is still the hungriest piglet and Butter is still the most suspicious. The only way to tell the difference between them, now, is by their beak markings. Peanut has no markings on his beak; Butter has one green dot on the right side of her beak; Jelly has ‘freckles’ all over her beak.

~ Julia ~