Six chicks in all, not doing so well at getting out of the pool. Only two could get out consistently.
Mom had to keep jumping in to show them how it's done, and every time she jumped in, any chicks that made it out followed her back in the water.
They finally all got out.
Then there was trouble getting out of the gate.
Mom and Dad took them back home, across the street.
We went to visit them a couple of days after their swimming lesson, and only two had survived. The lady that lives in front of their pond told us that she saw raccoons get 2, 1 just disappeared and she found one badly injured that she was trying to rehabilitate on her own.
Only these little guys survived.
They had gotten to be really fast little swimmers, but they liked to run off on their own. Needless to say, they were gone a couple of days later, too. On the plus side, the other mallard mother that shares the pond had all 12 in her clutch survive. They were fledging and getting ready to leave the nest, according to the woman in the house.
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