Standing room only - QUack!

Well the ducks got big in a hurry!  And now they are officially growing grown-up feathers. Well official might be a bit of a stretch as everything I know about ducks I have learnt from other people's blogs, none the less, the feathers are growing bigger and stronger!  Swimming is just about their most favorite thing to do since I gave them the opportunity 8 days into their lives, but as of right about now, they have out grown their pond.  This doesn't seem to stop them from all getting in there at once and splashing about.  The above pictures in order are the ducks at about 2 weeks, 2 1/2 weeks and 3 weeks.  Week 3 is when they really started to grow some serious teenager feathers (I think).  We are still waiting to hear an actual quack from them though.  Perhaps their cheeps are getting lower or perhaps we are just excited to see them grow and it is all in their minds.  Either way, we found out how to tell which ducks are female and which are male the day we bought them.  As The Duck Dealer said to us, "pick 'em up by the neck - if they hiss they are a male, if they quack they are a female."  I have read that they can quack as early as 3 weeks but some are later bloomers and wont quack until they are closer to 9 weeks.  So, we wait patiently by, listening close for a 'quack' or a 'hiss'.