First Aid for Hypothermic Ducklings

   As I was feeding the animals a few mornings back, I noticed that one of our ducklings had gotten trapped in the water bucket.  They're getting big enough that I thought I was past having to worry about that.  At first I thought it was dead, then I noticed its beak was moving.  I pulled it out of the water bucket and took it inside. I ran it under warm tap water for about ten minutes, dried it off somewhat , and took it into Linda wrapped up in a towel.  Linda put it on a heating pad under the blankets.  It sat there quietly while the heating pad brought its body temperature back up to normal.  About twenty minutes later it was apparently back to normal. It suddenly freaked out, escaped the blanket, and hid under the bed. Linda managed to capture it a few minutes later and she returned the duckling to the mother duck.  That was the first time in my life that I had the opportunity to apply my boy scout training on first aid for hypothermia. Of course this happened right as I was trying to leave for work. Quentin was unsympathetic when I offered up rendering first aid to a hypothermic duckling as my excuse for being late to work.

    We have had the drake sequestered in the adjacent chicken pen since the ducklings first hatched.  Since he has had almost three weeks to adjust to his newly expanded family, I thought we could try a supervised visitation.  The Drake immediately went into what looked like a jealous rage, chasing and harassing the ducklings.  I plopped the net over him and put him back in with the chickens. So much for time off his sentence for good behavior.  I think he may have to stay in the chicken pen until the ducklings are fully fledged and look pretty much like adult ducks.

    We are finally through all of the package bee craziness. I'm looking forward to turning my attention to other things, including putting in the vegetable garden, finishing my little row boat, and a few other things. Linda, of course, also has some plans for my time.