Wondering why she's smiling? Because there is yet another animal for us to clean up after.....
Yes, the rumor is true...we have adopted another duck. We got her on the 14Th of May. She came from a friend of a friend (Angela Mills!) who had received three ducks for Easter and the other two died, leaving this little orphan all alone. Thus, the name, "Annie", after Little Orphan Annie. Below, Daffy and Puddles are just staring at her, trying to figure out what she might be doing in their fence and why she doesn't look like them...and when she might be leaving. It's kind of comical if you really study it.
Here she is on the outside of the pool...they won't let her in....
She really is a homely looking thing...you can't help but love her because she's all alone. She also has this growth on top of her head that has these fuzzy feathers growing out of it and feet that are too big for her body. She is nothing like the other 4 ducks we have raised.
You can barely see her in this picture....peeking over the back of the pool...where she stayed for the first week...staying out of the way....making sure she wasn't a threat.
Now, Daffy & Puddles have their own opinion of this "impostor", and it is not good. They do not like her. I'm not sure if it's because she's coming in on the tail end of an already established couple (them), or if it's because she simply looks different. Either way, they are pecking at her and pulling out her feathers...especially the boy(Puddles). Annie doesn't seem to mind though, she just really wants to be included in their proverbial club...they are currently still separated, but she will nestle herself on the other side of the fence from them and get just as close as she can to them. She just wants to be with other ducks, and Puddles & Daffy just want to be with people. She freaks out and squawks if you take her out of the other ducks site. She sleeps separately in the garage, in her own Rubbermaid tub. We do let them out together in the evening in the yard, but they are closely supervised to keep them from picking on her. Our hope is that, as she grows and catches up with them in size(she's currently about 2 weeks behind ours) that she will start taking up for herself and fighting back. For now though, we're just loving her.
I love this picture below...the male, Puddles...has his beak wide open...in definite and undeniable protest of this new arrival....
Above, she's being chased in the pool (when she finally got in)...they weren't hurting her, just bugging her...nudging her, making sure that she knew who was boss.
OK, so now, I'm typing all this two weeks later...we have had Annie two weeks today, and she is almost double the size she was and is as big as our mallards. She is now a member of the feathered family. She sleeps with them and swims with them and eats with them as well. We have no clue what she is...boy or girl..carl calls her a "gluck"...says she looks like part goose and part duck...but I love her. She's a little lazy though...not much on swimming...not much on walking...not much on anything other than laying down...my kinda' duck acutally. It's funny really, she'll be walking along and all the sudden, she'll just plop down. Pictures below were taken yesterday.
Hannah says they are like an oreo, with Annie in the middle...
This is the female...Daffy, helping Annie arrange her feathers....which she very well should, since she has spent the last two weeks pulling them out!
We are currently looking for somewhere to release them, so if anyone knows of a safe place away from a road, away from alligators, and not a place like Shreve Island park where they "thin them out" each year, then please let us know. We won't have time to take them to Tennessee this year, as VBS ends on Friday night and we leave for Florida on Saturday morning...unless anyone would like to duck sit while we're gone...............:-) seriously, any ideas on where we could take them? A private pond would be ideal.
3 comments:
You know...I might could contact Jinnie again about them being released at the pond at her work. She is the Assistant Administrator at a Nursing Home off Youree Drive and at one time that is where she was going to take her ducks. They have a nice and pretty pond in the front where other ducks and maybe a goose live. I can talk with her if you would want to take them there to be released. By the way, it is WAY off Youree Drive so they would not be ANYWHERE near the street. By the way, I was getting all sad reading this thinking she wasn't being accepted but thanks for the update! I'm glad she is with you and thriving!
shhhhh...but we're taking them to country place. :-)
Ok, it was the shoe that had me laughing!!!
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