Rescued duck

[horsejody]

Well, Chester is still with me and doing fine. He has been adopted by a Creve Couer hen. I put them in an outdoor run together during the day. There is an old dog crate in the run that they spend a lot of time in. She seems to cuddle him in there, and she comes out and watches him splash around the big water dish. She gets upset when I put him in the big parrot cage at night. She doesn't like being put in the cage herself so we compromise, and she roosts where she can see him. We went away for the weekend, and my wonderful neighbor babysat the animals. When she was taking the baby out of the cage to put him out with the hen he started to cry and the rooster attacked her. So I guess the rooster likes him too and felt the need to protect him. BTW the neighbor wasn't injured. We all now know to let the rooster out in the other run before handling the baby.

DH is quite concerned that I will keep Chester and get more ducks. Every day that passes makes it less likely that Chester will be going to my friend who has ducks. However, if he bonds with the chickens and isn't lonely, he will probably be my only duck. My DD and DDIL have both suggested that we keep him and enter him in the annual duck race in Avoca, Nebraska. The town has a big party every year, called the Quackoff.