We have been a bit unlucky with duckies this year. We had about 6 girls initially and one by one we lost them through some pesky possums early in the year. I managed to incubate a few eggs and had a few duckies to mother…sadly, none of them survived either…some were too weak and I actually stood on one too. I know, I know, I was so devastated that I couldn’t even write that in a post! Ducklings have a very erratic way of walking ie. they don’t walk in a straight line AND Munchkins have an erratic way of walking…so, put the two together and it might be a recipe for disaster! Oh dear, no duckies this year:
Anyway, we have ended up with a lone surviving duck and three drakes. The last two months, we attempted to isolate the female with one drake in the coop. They had the whole infinity pond to themselves and access to all- they- can eat corn and protein buffet. Despite all this pampering, duckie was not laying any eggs (or was there a snake getting them, I am not sure?). We felt that she was lonely and unhappy and needed some female company to perk up. To add to all this stress, during this confinement period, the drake kept on escaping through invisible holes in the coop to chase after the other two drakes! Yes, oh what fun!! It just wasn’t working out at all…
So, we decided to seek out our Duckie Exchange guy in Punta Gorda. We have known this guy for as long as we have had duckies…so, probably about 14 years. He owns ducks and occasionally, he goes through difficult duckie times like ours; when this happens he usually seeks us out for a pair of duckies to start again. Over the years, we have sought each other out in duckie dearth times. This time it was our turn. He said that he was happy to spare a a few for us even although he had suffered quite a loss recently. That was really nice of him. Whilst talking, he told us that he had lost his only male goose to the dog. As he told us, his single female goose walked by…she was so tame and cute and she had a funny, limping gait. He explained to us that when she was a gosling, a crab nipped off all her toes so that was why she walked in a teeter-totter sort of way. Anyway, we thanked him for his help and said that we would return to pick up the ducks.
Afterwards, Gnome and I talked and agreed that since we had always helped each other out, we would give the guy a male goose in exchange for the duckies. It is coming up to goosie breeding season again and the fights will start with the September solstice. There is one particular male goosie that gets the brunt of it all and we end up throwing him into the duck coop for protection. I am not sure why the other males go for him because he is very fine-looking and he is a fighter too. Gnome and I agreed that he would probably be happier in a new home despite our reluctance to let go of our beloved goosie.
Anyway, that Duckie-Goosie exchange took place about two weeks ago. Every time, we are in town, we slow down in front of the house to catch a glimpse of our dear goosie. He looks a lot happier walking proudly about with his new lady and it looks like he is the new boss of the yard! Oh I know, we are suckers for happy endings…let us also hope for a happy ending for the duckies because we want more of these little cuties!!
