Neigh... i mean... Quack!!

Ada, Maddy, Lucy and Inman in the front :)
These are my precious, 3 day old Mallard ducklings that I raised one summer. I think it was summer of 2006. I had a job at our local vet and I was a little bored and decided I wanted some new pets. I went to the local feed store and talked to them about some homing ducks but they weren't getting any in... so I settled for Mallards. I fell in love with them... and them with me :) They followed me everywhere!

This is when they were a week old! Their first swim in their brand new lime green kiddy pool!

3 weeks old, just being good little children!
When people asked me their names I would tell them which one was which and they would say, they all look the same! how do you know who is who?! well, the stripes on their heads were different! Inman's went to a point, Maddy's didn't go all the way to the black part, and Ada's was thicker than lucy's!
Throughout the summer they went to work with me, took swims in the pool, followed me around the yard, had a run in with a mean golden retriever that tried to eat Maddy :( she lived though and had no injuries thank goodness.
This is my drake, Inman.

My little duckies were a big hit with my neighbors so I was able to take them to the pond across the street and release them!These are pictures from the day I released them.

Right after they got done drinking they took off running and all of them tried to fly and kind of "coasted" toward the house! :) it was so encouraging!

did I mention that they LOVED riding in the car! and on the golf cart!!

This is Maddy...


you can see their green feathers starting to come in!
I have searched my files and can't find any pictures of them on the pond after i let them go, but they did amazing! They were flying within a few weeks. They made a new friend that was half mallard half peking duck. He couldn't fly but that didn't stop my four from flying! They would take off and 'mutt duck' as we called him would go crazy honking at them! I can just imagine what he was saying... 'get back over here! don't leave me!!'. everytime they were done flying they would go right back to where mutt duck was swimming in circles! they were there for a while and then finally flew off! and of course, Inman had his beautiful green head!! :) He was gorgeous!
This november/december I was riding horses over at the pond where I released them and they were out there swimming on the pond with new friends they had brought back! ok... i don't know if it was them for sure.. but i like to think it is! haha.
I did put colored rings on their feet so that if somebody shot them they'd feel bad for killing ducks that were banded. Oh well!
I did enjoy raising them though! they were a lot of fun!
If you ever want to raise ducks, I would recommend it! They take up a lot of time but they definitely aren't expensive! :)
Thought I'd change it up a little bit and do something besides horses!