"I may be a duck, but I am human" ( Donald Duck in "Early to bed" 1941)

 

"If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the 

  possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family Anatidae on our 

  hands" ( Douglas Adams -writer of " The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

 

Or: The Indian Runner Duck Story.

 

It all started when we were at a farmer to buy some new chickens, some very old one's had
died and we wanted a bit of new compagny for the group , when I saw Indian Runner Ducks
for the first time in my life,running in his yard.
As a kid, I read about them, in the book series of Jaap ter Haar,in "ErnstJan en Snabbeltje",
about a boy and his runnerduck,so I was pleased to meet them in real life!

When we were at home with our new chickens we kept thinking about them and after a month we decided to go back and buy 2 .
It was our intention to buy a lady and a gent,but when we came at the farmer he only had a few
gents left, so we returned with 2 boys, "Daffy" and "Theo".

The first years they did nothing else but relax,relax and relax and eat a bit once in a while,birds in
paradise!

After two years they discovered that there was more world to see ,Daffy found out that there was  a ditch in front of the house so he told Theo to move his ass and walk!

The boys had a lot of fun together, but in the summer of 2010 the good times came to an end when
Theo hurt his leg and was lame. We went to the vet with both of them, she couldn't find anything-
there aren't many vets that have a lot of experience with birds, unfortunately, so we went home again
and hoped for the best.
But Theo was permanently crippled and if that wasn't enough, Daffy thought that he was a woman now and Theo had to hide most of the time, otherwise he was raped.
Daffy was more and more on his own, playing with wild ducks in the ditch, while Theo was in the
garden near the pond.
In december of 2010 I went outside to feed the chickens and the ducks,and couldn't find Theo.
I called Mart and we looked everywhere,nothing, until Mart took a look at the woodpile and there he was, without his head:-(((
He was catched by a skunk, probably an easy target, because he was crippled.
A sad day.

Now that Daffy was all on his own,we thought about finding a woman for him. That wasn't the
most easy thing to do, because no-one in our surrounding had any Indian Runners, our farmer neither.
The only option was the North of Holland,but that is to far away for us.
Than I saw an advertisement on Marktplaats, someone in Belgium had 2 female runners! I contacted him and he only wanted to sell them both, well, no problem for us:-)
On a snowy day we returned at home with the lady's and Daffy's eyes almost jumped out!

This is a picture of the first moment, Daffy is standing and the lady's are in the water.

It didn't take long before he decided to join them.

Daffy was very satisfied and the lady's also,they were inseparable.
This young happiness was also short-lived,because after 3 months one of the lady's was killed
on the bloody road where we live,and where most drivers have their foot sticked on the
accelerator:-/
( The main reason why our cats stay at home with a big cat cage, after 4 of them where killed
there).

1 & 1 = more than 2

Spring came, and Catherine -as we called the lady, made a nest on the most bad place that we
could imagine, at the side of the road.
But everything went well, and because I like to see the birth of the young one's nearby, I steal
2 eggs from her and lay them under Betty Ford, one of our chickens.
With big succes!!
29 april 2010 Bastien was born:

and 30 april Juul:

 And here are the two of them with their foster mother:

Good thing we saved them,because Catherine's first nest failed. After a day we brought them
inside,and now I have a lot of pictures to share, because I kept on clicking and clicking:-)

 

 

The first time their favorite place was in my shirt, and later on my shoulders,

On the keyboard and playing in the livingroom.

In the mood for a party!( doing the Duck Walk:-)

And here for the first time outside,they were really scared in the beginning.

but not for long!

They grew well, the first feathers appeared after a month.

They discovered how great it is to eat and dig in the dirt!

And washing up again.

In the mean time,Catherine made another nest and while she sit there,Daffy had a bit of rest,
time to chill out.

Alone,or with Bas and Juul.

In the beginning of july Catherine's second nest made it and- because the last time was a disaster, I saved  4 little one's and brought them inside- after all,we had the knowledge now!:-)

They loved to make a mess......

......................and  Mart's feet.

 

                                                                                                         

  Outside , Juul checking out her new brothers and sisters.

In the mean time, Catherine did really well as a mum,she only lost 1. Here she is walking down
the road.

After a week she came to the garden, the little one's discovered their other little brothers and sisters and were very happy, they re-united so Catherine had them all back.

Here is the " white brigade" in september,all grown up now.

2011

2011 was a hell of a year for Mart, to search and search where the ducks had made a nest,they had annexed the entire township,so that wasn't the easiest job with the growing crops on the field.
He could tract most of the nests and pulled the eggs out, but Catherine was nowhere to find.
Than, in july, Mart discovered that she made a nest in the alfalfa field at the back of our house.

 

 Our neighboor saw us hanging around in the field, making pictures and asked what was going on,      

  so we told her. She warned us that the farmer that leased the field from her,was about to mow            

    the field any day now,so Catherine was in danger. Mart talked it over with the farmer,                      

he was very nice and mowed all around her nest,and afterwards the field looked like this:                                                

       

And a day later, the new runners were born!!                                                                                  

( Here with a Calimero,his/her head stucked in the egg -shell)                                                        

When they were all born and another machine came to collect the alfalfa harvest,Catherine had            enough of it and moved to the garden.Yeahhh! Save at last!      

                                                 

                

At the end of last year,we had 19 ducks. And the grumble in the neighbourhood had begun.      

So,we were about to make a decision what to do, before someone would get a rifle and shoot    

them ( or us).   

   

                                                               

                                  

                           

We talked it over and over,and the best thing to do was to move the females to another address,

so we called 'our' farmer if he had a place for them and we couldn't make him happier he said,  

because females are still very rare to get in this part of the country.                                             

 The 14th of february the day had come,to catch the lady's and a few of the males and drive        

them to Ouddorp, where our farmer lives.          

                                                                          

I didn't feel for it at all,but we had no other choice.I hope Catherine and the others will get a good new life,with lots of love,space and food.                                                                                         

                                      

Now there still lives 9 gents here, but we won't have any little one's anymore.