Duck...duck...duck..........Chicken!

I have had ducklings on my property for four days and still had not held one, petted one, or been anywhere within two feet of one. Thank goodness for long camera lenses, right? Our two mamas, Oreo and Cookies&Cream and extremely good at team parenting. They have decided to co-parent all the ducklings together, which is actually very common for Muscovy ducks. This is all well and good for the ducklings, but terrible for us when it comes to wanting to hold one. Instead of fighting off one Mama to borrow her baby for a bit, we have to fight off two. With the instincts of a Mama Bear. 

Now you know why I still hadn't held one.

Thankfully, my sisters came to visit. Convincing Eric to ward off the crazy Mamas turned out to be extremely easy with seven pairs of female puppy eyes and whiny voices added to the mix. Eric bravely crawled into the coop, held the ladies back with a big tree branch, snatched up the closest duckling in sight, and took off, closing the coop door behind him, with the Mamas bawlking, hissing and running to attack his heels. We are forever indebted.

And, we got our wish.

Lyla can now point and say "Duck!", adding one more word to her teeny tiny vocabulary of about, oh, four words. ;-)

 Finally, it was my turn! I tossed Eric the camera and cradled the fuzzy duckling in my hands. It was so warm and started to settle in, closing its eyes as I stroked its head. It felt like it was humming. Perhaps a ducklings version of a kitten's purr.

Mama moment. "My turn" holding the duckling actually means I'm just holding it for my kids to crowd around and pet. 

 This is what happens when an (almost) 16-month-old gets her hands free....

Thankfully the duckling was spared, no harm done.  

I can't get enough of this cuteness. It's a good thing we don't eat ducklings. 

Speaking of eating, I am no longer giving Lexi naming rights to the animals. When she began calling the ducklings, "Chips," "Salsa," "Peanut-butter," and "Coconut oil," I drew the line. We are NOT naming these ducklings. Unless of course, it's something appropriate, such as "Thanksgiving entree," or "Christmas a la duck."

Getting so big already at four days old!

And lest we not forget our other feathered friends...

Abby sporting "Chubby Buff", one of my favorite Buff Orpingtons, due to her mass amounts of fluffy feathers

...CHICKEN!