And 10...

FINALLY! The girls and I were able to witness and acutal hatching! The egg was squeaking and rolling around when I got to bed. I figured they little guy would probably hatch while we were out for the day. We went to church, to the baseball game, to Mom's house. The egg was still unhatched. So I started watching it. (Duck watching is quite addictive. Probably better for you than TV). I got my video camera and was prepared. It was certainly going to break though any second. I set the camera up on something to tape while I ran to get the girls. And Rebekah, Neleh and I enjoyed Mother's Day watching an egg hatch to reveal a little duckling.
The freshly hatched ducklings seem so helpless. They are wet and sticky. They can barely get their balance to walk.
Since I did get the thing on video, I'm going to play around with Bill's computer later and see if I can find a way to post the video. (I can't use my computer cause it doesn't have "firewire.")

The girls got to hold babies for a little while today. Those little duckies are quite squirmy and hard to hold on to! The girls from down the street, Samatha and Sierra, were here and also help them.

We left the pen gate open after we put duckies back in. I stood back and watched. Most of the ducks wandered out of the pen. The adults were digging around in the grass for food, I guess. All 3 of the big ducks came out. We may let them roam the yard a little more now...under supervision, of course.