Member-only story
Ducklings: Smarter than We Thought?
Maybe ‘birdbrain’ isn’t the worst insult, after all
Ten days ago, we knew nothing about raising ducklings. Then someone pranked my husband, Curtis, by putting over 200 rubber ducks in his office.
When he walked into the office, he played along — and that’s when he heard the cheeping.
“Oh, you put real ducks in here too?! Whose are they?”
“Yours.”
Looooooong pause.
“No, really. Whose are they?”
“Yours.”
And just like that, we became the proud owners of four ducks: two Pekin, one Khaki Campbell, and one Black Swedish.
We brought them home in a big cardboard box and spent the rest of the evening watching their antics. It was better than TV (if you don’t believe me, you can watch them yourself on Accidental Farm, the YouTube channel that I started for them. Yes, acquiring animals is my hobby. Yes, I should get a cheaper hobby).
They step into their water bowl when they’re trying to drink, climb all over each other in their frenzy to be first to the food bowl, and run in circles squawking loudly when they get caught alone. They also poop on you if you hold them for more than a few minutes, make their bedtime bin dirty in the…
