I am thrilled to announce that....

the ducks have left the building. Our house, that is. They are now safely ensconced in the new chicken coop. The coop is not fully complete and ready for chickens, but it is finished enough to house the ducks. Given that I found a duck walking around the house a couple of times today, it was none too soon, either.

The first step to move them out was to get them out of their wading pool. We decided that since their water needed to be inside the coop until the outside pen is done, that we needed to do everything possible to keep the inevitable splashing to a minimum. The best way to do this would be to put the food and water inside the wading pool inside the coop. They'd already proven they could get in and out of the pool, so reaching the food and water wasn't going to be an issue.

But how to contain the ducks without their wading pool while we set it up in the coop?

Enter... the baby pen!  That would be the baby pen which I bought for G. and L.  [I couldn't find a picture of it, but in this post, you can see a corner of it] when they were toddlers. They spent a lot of time in that pen, and I certainly got my money's worth. I wasn't sad to pack it up and not have it take up half of my kitchen, though. Since then, we have used it for any number of things, included a few dogs. Well, who knew that it would also be put to use as a duck pen?

I am terribly amused at seeing G. (front) and L. (back) in the pen with the ducks, given how much of their toddler years were spent in it.

The ducks were not entirely sure about this whole thing, and clustered together for quite a while.

Eventually they got a little more comfortable and discovered they liked grass.

With the wading pool washed out and new food and water containers found, it was time to put the ducks in their new home.

We took the larger plate heater away from the chicks who didn't need it anymore, so that the ducks could all get under it if it got too cold.

Once again, they spent a lot of time clustered together in a corner at first.

They eventually started moving around and investigating their new surroundings. We hadn't yet seen them get in the wading pool to eat and drink when we closed the door, though.

Both J. and I have made several trips out to the coop to check on them. They seem to be doing fine, and though we have to actually see them in the wading pool, its messiness leads us to believe that they have been there. 

The next couple of weekends will be spent with the ducks in the pen in the yard while J. adds roosts, a window, some ventilation, a door to the outside pen, and an outside pen. Once that happens, then these chickens will get to move out as well!

Today, I will be deep cleaning the TV lounge, though it may take it a while to truly air out.