→ 15 Jan 13 at 3 pm
We have an update from Harriette and Ginger! The two chicks who were traumatised after being the sole survivors from a fox attack when they were two weeks old. They now live with my parents. What beautiful birds they have grown into! Harriette, or “Screamer” as we called her when she stayed with us is still very nervous, she wouldn’t come out her housing but is very bright and alert. Ginger is the softest, sweetest cockerel I’ve had the pleasure to meet. He let me pick him up out the side of the housing without a struggle or a sound and let me cuddle him and give him kisses. He’s so fluffy and harmless. He looks incredibly grumpy but I promise it’s just his face! He kept an eye on Harriette and made sure she was safe the whole time. I am so proud of them.
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![So Edwin hatched on September the 14th, in a week she will be two months old. What a roller-coaster… Here’s a long blurb sharing my experiences :)
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Having a single duckling increased her people-attachment and our need to be her companion in replacement of siblings. She still cries when she can’t see us but her voice is breaking so the high-pitched squeak has deepened to something less likely to annoy the neighbours, until she gets her adult quack and my partner will finally realise exactly what “Call Duck” means. Hopefully she will be more comfortable on her own as an adult. It can take between five to twenty minutes for her to quieten down again, and sometimes it’s heartbreaking. I’ve given in a couple of times and had her sleep next to me on a blanket but it’s no fun being woken up every half an hour due to being dabbled.
She loves being in the peoplehouse, unlike the big ducks she is calm when things are being moved around, or picked up, I tried to start this early, by emptying shopping bags on the kitchen floor for her to feel new objects of different colours and shapes. (Ducks seem to dislike bright colours, especially red, orange and yellow…) So instead of screaming and running away if something’s new, she’ll remain calm and figure it out.She likes showers and baths. She especially likes showers with the people because she can stand on their feet and puff herself up (I only let her in once all the soap and shampoo has rinsed away). She’s bathed in the bath and the kitchen sink, which wasn’t a good idea as she likes to splash.
She goes outside when we’re outside with the big ducks and she follows me out to put them away at night when we go “slug hunting”, where she’s learnt if I dip the torch towards the ground I’m “spotlighting” a numnum. She’s also learnt that pointing means something good lies yonder finger.
She loves her peoplecuddles, she’ll sit on you all evening on her blanket but as she’s got older she’s started to tell us off more for tickling her whilst she’s trying to sleep. Noodling the back of her head where it’s still soft makes her go to sleep (I also love noodles), which was something we started early knowing there was no point in making her partial to, lets say, wing tickles which would then grow over with stiff feathers.
She can’t control her bowel movements like most birds so blankets and tissues from pound shops have been lifesavers. So. Much. Poo. We’re going to get her a nappy from The Gooses Mother & Father whose poultry nappies are just amazing. She can follow us around more freely then and we can be shouted at a little less when we’ve gone into another room. The stairs, we hope, she will conquer once her wings are more developed. She runs around flapping now she’s started to feel a little lift in them so fingers crossed!She talks back every time we talk, she watches TV and me playing the Xbox, she follows us everywhere and she will dabble everything. Just putting my laundry in the washing machine this morning she was jumping at each item as I picked it up. There are two things I’m desperately trying to stop her doing, one is that I like my woolies when it’s cold, and she likes sitting there ripping the bobbles off, the second is that she likes to grab hold of my hair and swallow it so I have to pull it out all wet…After these months we’ve picked up on her language, there’s a few bits and pieces we know already but we understand her. Ducks are very open, expressionate animals, she’ll let you know exactly how she feels if not vocally then from her body language. Well, that’s how it’s been so far! The household dynamic will change once she gets her nappy, at the moment we get duck-respite and she gets to sleep in a rabbit cage that sits in the living room with us.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md4aojayjk1r7lefio1_500.jpg)
