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Lucky duckling
3-week-old Chipper was hatched by -- and now is attached to -- Rock Hill man
By Jennifer Becknell · [email protected]
Updated 08/17/07 - 1:30 AM
Mike Underwood, boating enthusiast and animal lover, didn't expect to hatch an egg in retirement. But in his new role as mama duck, he's having a blast.
Chipper -- the duckling Underwood hatched from an abandoned egg three weeks ago -- faithfully tags along at his heels. If Underwood breaks into a run, Chipper picks up the pace after him. If she can't see him, she chirps loudly.
"I don't know if she's got me or I've got her," chuckled Underwood, 75, a retired locomotive engineer who dotes on his duckling. "I just think the world of her."
It all began after Underwood, who owns a houseboat at The Lake Club Marina on Lake Wylie, watched a mother duck build a nest behind the boat's passenger seat. The mother duck deposited six eggs there.
"I'd talk to her all the time," he said. "She got where she didn't mind me."
Three weeks ago today, Underwood visited his houseboat and saw the mother perched on her nest. The next day, he found the remains of five hatched eggs. The mother was gone, leaving one last, unhatched ducking.
The abandoned duck egg had a tiny pinhole in it. Underwood picked it up and carefully peeled off the shell. Inside, he found a small, weak duckling.
"She didn't have the strength to bust the shell off," he said. "I pulled it off real easy. I didn't think she was going to live." He wiped off the membrane and dried the new duck with a towel.
"She couldn't raise her head," he said.
continues at http://www.heraldonline.com/109/story/99463.html
Lucky duckling
3-week-old Chipper was hatched by -- and now is attached to -- Rock Hill man
By Jennifer Becknell · [email protected]
Updated 08/17/07 - 1:30 AM
Mike Underwood, boating enthusiast and animal lover, didn't expect to hatch an egg in retirement. But in his new role as mama duck, he's having a blast.
Chipper -- the duckling Underwood hatched from an abandoned egg three weeks ago -- faithfully tags along at his heels. If Underwood breaks into a run, Chipper picks up the pace after him. If she can't see him, she chirps loudly.
"I don't know if she's got me or I've got her," chuckled Underwood, 75, a retired locomotive engineer who dotes on his duckling. "I just think the world of her."
It all began after Underwood, who owns a houseboat at The Lake Club Marina on Lake Wylie, watched a mother duck build a nest behind the boat's passenger seat. The mother duck deposited six eggs there.
"I'd talk to her all the time," he said. "She got where she didn't mind me."
Three weeks ago today, Underwood visited his houseboat and saw the mother perched on her nest. The next day, he found the remains of five hatched eggs. The mother was gone, leaving one last, unhatched ducking.
The abandoned duck egg had a tiny pinhole in it. Underwood picked it up and carefully peeled off the shell. Inside, he found a small, weak duckling.
"She didn't have the strength to bust the shell off," he said. "I pulled it off real easy. I didn't think she was going to live." He wiped off the membrane and dried the new duck with a towel.
"She couldn't raise her head," he said.
continues at http://www.heraldonline.com/109/story/99463.html
