Well..after this afternoon we no longer own 2 Peking ducks.
Seems that once we introduced the female duck to the drake "Daffy" that he became overly protective of her and of what he percieved to be "his territory"..in other words our entire back yard suddenly became his domain to "protect".
So much so that every time my daughter would go outdoors, and if the ducks were out..it was almost guaranteed that she'd be attacked by the drake duck and pecked ...sometimes not just once but numerous times..and these pecks weren't baby pecks..rather they were hard "bites" that resulted in bruises of nearly a blood blister look. Ouch!
So...something had to change!
After placing an ad in our local advertiser last week with no results..I decided to call up our local feed supply store this morning and inquire as to whether the owner of the store knew of anyone interested in owning a pair of Peking ducks.
She told me that I could bring them to the store and that they would take them.
So..to the feed store I went today.
Once I got there she asked me if I wanted her to sell the ducks for me..I quickly thought of this and yes..I could have probably made a wee bit of money trying to sell them, but in the back of my mind I thought..hmm..and what if for some reason she isn't able to sell them in what she percieves to be a timely fashion and then what? Do I get called to come pick them up again? No!
So..I quickly said "oh no!..that's o.k...I thought maybe I'd just go ahead and let you have them to sell for yourself"
Of course she liked that idea and I did too knowing that once I made the deal..it was a done deal and I could walk away free and clear.
So we quickly got the ducks situated into the cage at the feed store. What a relief.
I did stop to look at some of the gerbera daisies and parsley plants and she gave a few of them to me for the ducks.
Anyhow..I honestly have no remorse...no regrets.
They'll have a chance to live on a farm with a pond perhaps.
And I'll have a daughter with bruise free arms again.
It wound up being a learning experience for our whole family..raising the ducklings to maturity and also learning that unless we have a pond and plenty of space..having ducks in the city just wouldn't work for us.
Sometimes in life you have to learn things by going through them.
All in all though it was quite a fun experience for the most part, until the duck turned aggressive.
Anyhow..since alot of you had followed my progress reports on the ducks from way back when they were babies..I thought it proper to let you know that we are now a duck less family.
And...I'm a bit relieved for it honestly.
They were beautiful animals don't get me wrong, but when one of them starts getting ornery..well..it just is best for all involved to call it quits. I hope that now they'll have a chance to splash arounds in a pond somewhere for their remaining years.
----------We simply are reduced down to owning 2 chickens and one puppy now. Much easier
to manage.
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The children's room was painted today..a pale baby blue color. Glad that that room is now completed and I can hopefully work on getting other areas of the house redone. I do have to decorate the room yet/hang pictures...but it is amazing what a little paint can do to a room.
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I had a few errands to run today also..so it wound up being a bit of a busy day.
Painters here at 11 then gone by about 1:30, then to the post office, then to the feed store, then to a shop that we provide sign work to, then to the health food store, then back to the shop that we provide products to, then to Kmart to get a few things like bird seed and paper towels...then finally home to prepare dinner.
...But a good day....busy...but good. And very relieved that the children's room is finally painted.
Once it is decorated it will look really nice.
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Well..I hope that you all have a really nice evening.
Thank you for joining me in "blogland"
~The Garden Goose~
6 comments:
Sounds like a good idea to have rid yourselves of the ducks. You can't have animals that will hurt the children. As you say it was a great experience for the family.
Have a great week
Alison
That really sounds like the best option to the situation. Interesting how they became so aggressive with the children! I would have never guessed such a thing.
Hope the painting went well and looks great.
Oh, your poor daughter with those ducks! We had a similar experience when our boys were young. We raised a tom-turkey who had to completely rule the roost (he had the run of the yard) and some geese. . .and they would run up behind the boys and 'attack' them. I guess nature equipped them with the ability to protect themselves, but nature also equipped human mothers with the instinct to protect as well! It made for interesting days until we resolved the problem. I don't remember how we fixed it all, but it worked out somehow.
I hope your day is going great!
LaTeaDah
Bye, Bye, Ducky. You do what you have to do!
The painting sounds great!
So glad you found a solution. I have been away for a couple of weeks with limited internet, so didn't know you wanted my address. For some reason, my computer won't send from your e-mail, so if I am not too late, please e-mail me at elee@srt.com and I will see if it works to reply.
glad you have some relief in the duck area. i look forward to seeing the completed room!
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