I swore to my husband I was going to stop at 10 ducks. Ten ducks is a lot of ducks! But then my latest batch of eggs started to hatch and I fully intended to sell them all. Unexpectedly two hatched on my husband's birthday and he was the one to say "let's keep them." So I said okay to two more. Then, I noticed this one's eyes...
Born with cataracts
This little duckling almost didn't hatch. It was taking a really long time so I decided to intervene and help it. It was a pretty weak duckling so I had to help it get food and water for a few days. I've been told not to interfere with hatching and that if a duckling dies it's nature taking its course with the weak ones. This one would have died if I didn't interfere but I didn't have the heart to let it die.
It's seven days old and so far as long as it's in it's brooder it can find it's food and water and can move around okay. If I take it out and put it on the couch to get it use to me it won't move around at all so I don't think it can see much if at all. I'm already researching and brainstorming it's future care to make sure it has a nice life.
Three Little Ducks I Didn't Expect To Keep Bringing Me To 13
So how are my four previous hatchlings?
Bluey, Bingo, Doctor, and Little Debbie are outdoors at this point and hanging out with my three year old and one year old ducks. They bonded really quickly and are one big, happy family. I let my three year old name three of them so they were Disney Jr inspired.
They are beautiful ducks but I do have to say Bluey is my favorite. He is part Black Swedish, part Khaki Campbell and is just sweet. Bluey likes to nibble my hair and clothes and is the most trusting of the bunch.
Bluey 
And if you've never met the originals...
Meet Sammy the Pekin, Reese's Pieces the Khaki Campbell, and Smokey, Felix, Felicity, and Frankie the Black Swedish. I really enjoy them as pets and they are spoiled. I also have a small business with them selling eating eggs, hatching eggs, and ducklings. That's the reason I added more ducks to my flock was for business reasons.
I have a lot of people asking for hatching eggs and ducklings but not enough to meet the demand. More ducks means by next year I can expand my duck business and focus on selling hatching eggs.
So yeah...I've got 13 ducks now! I never thought I'd have 13 ducks but oh well! At least there will never be a dull moment around the homestead.
We hatch chickens. So,etimes we have had to "help" a chick finish getting out of it's shell. It's never a sure thing that they will make it when we do. I only need one hand to count the number of birds that actually survived after our efforts to help them out. But the ones that do make it, are worth the effort. They are usually the most social and friendly too.
I've helped around 10 so far hatch. It's been hard doing this with a 3 year old who around because twice now she sneaked and lifted the lid during lock down and I've had shrink wrapped ducklings. They all made it though. This little duckling is definitely partially blind so it wouldn't have hatched I think without my help. It's so sweet and cuddly though and just wants comfort so I think I'll end up adoring it and doing crazy things to spoil it.
Oh my this is a so beautiful story !
for these lovely shots and don't hesitate to post them on Feathered Friends community next time, they will be cherished there ! 😍
Love how you helped this poor guy despite this dumb belief that one has to let them do & die alone..who could let a living being die without having the heart bleeding indeed ? (yes I know, a lot of people could..)
I'm happy you decided both to keep them all, 13 is a lucky number when one decides it is 😁 , and I'm totally for elaborating my own beliefs rather than buying the ones that doesn't make me feel good 😉
I have a tendency to rescue animals so it wasn't hard to decide to help this baby hatch. I'm lucky my husband is cool with all the animals. Six cats and thirteen ducks later and he's still cool with it so yay for me! lol I'll probably end up keeping all the misfit ducklings that hatch or will work really hard to ensure they go to people who want them for pets. Thanks for telling me about the Feathered Friends community. I've been absent for a while so communities is still a new concept to me. I'll be sure to check it out.
Awesome! I plan on getting a couple ducks soon to get started. The one in the first photo is a cutie, how could you not want to keep em!
I hope you get duck! They are so much fun to have and I love them so much. The first one in the photo is the little blind one. It's so sweet and pitiful. Hopefully I can give it a nice life. It cuddles with me so nicely that I'm sure it'll be spoiled.
I'm so glad you saved him! I know they say to never interfere with nature, but, I am no longer sure who they are!
So glad to see you back in the writing mode again! We have missed you! xoox The ducks all look great and soon you will need to build them their own condo! :) How cool would that be? Give those ducks and the three year old a big hug from me!
Upped and reposted
!tip
Hey there! I'm trying to make a comeback. I missed a lot of stuff and got confused with where everyone is at (steemit or here) so I just stopped posting. It's spring so lots of fun things going on and pretty pictures to take. My husband was teasing me because I'm building a second duck house with tile floor lol. It was cheaper than brick or concrete and easy to clean.
You are making a great comeback. I think with all the BS going on over on steemit with Sun, most are powering down and moving it to Hive. However, I am powering down and keeping enough there to let me vote. There are a few staying. He has made it difficult with freezing some of the bigger accounts' ability to get their steem out and the blocktrades are disabled for steem ... such long stories that I don't want to bore you. But, I am not waiting until I get none of my steem out, so I have been powering down.
My opinion? Let's get this Hive rolling! Good to see you and I know you would be doing another! :)
!tip
🎁 Hi @marxrab! You have received 0.1 HIVE tip from @dswigle!
Check out @dswigle blog here and follow if you like the content :)
Sending tips with @tipU - how to guide.
🎁 Hi @marxrab! You have received 0.1 HIVE tip from @dswigle!
@dswigle wrote lately about: You Are My Sunshine Feel free to follow @dswigle if you like it :)
Sending tips with @tipU - how to guide.
Wow... That's a lot of quackers! How are the original group doing?
The originals are doing well. They seem to be all getting along well with no problems. I actually ended up with one more blind duckling so that brings me to 14. Pip and Puddles are both partially blind but they seem to be doing great outside with the group. They use their sense of sound to know where to go. It's been interesting to watch.
Congratulations @marxrab! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your board And compare to others on the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDo not miss the last post from @hivebuzz:
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!
So glad to have found you on hive! Hopefully you and yours are doing lovely. I hope to see you on here soon💜
Hello! I took a break for a while but I'm slowly getting back into writing for fun. Glad to see you here!