Well thats what a friend calls our house since we started taking in unwanted animals, birds and of course ducks!
It all started with cats ...found abandoned, abused ones, unwanted kittens, broken homes you name it over the years we have had it. We moved to our current house because it would be a better school for the boys .....and safer for the cats (there ...said that last bit quickly). We are away from the road, secluded in woods with views out to Wales and the cats love it .....so we had more! With the house came a hotch potch of garden and a wild bit with a stream running through.......Oh yessssss ...we could have ducks as well ...paradise!
Unfortunately we did a silly thing ...we widened the stream ...made a lovely area, built a state of the art duck house absolutely wonderful ...or so we thought! We moved in a drake and three ducks and the trouble started ....first one went ill then another...we seemed to get them better only to go ill again. Realisation dawned ....the stream was poisonous ...and we had disturbed all the silt and made it worse.....Oh dear ...now what! It seems rather fitting writing this that it was in fact A and K from the sad blog below who came to our rescue .....she was then the nurse at the local vet and also was prone to taking in waifs and strays.
Our ducks poor and ailing went down to their big pool which was not poisonous to join their duck colony and there they spent many happy years. I would see them swimming about as I passed daily on my way to work.
NO MORE DUCKS ...we had the stream tested by the Water Authority ...their advice ...pipe it or put a skull and crossbones sign on it ....gee thanks! So definitely no more ducks ..we fenced the stream off ...put loads and loads of rubble, topsoil and compost on top of the dredged stuff until it was actually about five feet higher and moved some ex battery house chickens into the duck house instead.
Time passed ...and one bright Sunday friends appeared for lunch with a great big duck in a box! 'Can you take this in?' They had been relentlessy attacked by the fox population until out of a run full of ducks and hens this poor bloke was the only one left and he really was a 'sitting duck' for the next fox dinner.
We were somewhat aghast because had never seen ourselves with ducks again but could understand their plight ..so we said we would have him on a temporary basis until we could re home him ...famous last words! Within 24 hours we had found him a mate .....Mrs Pemberton! She was a young snappy little thing ...no-one knew how old the drake was! So they settled in the front garden in a dog kennel with a dog bed holding water for their ablutions and a tin bath for a reserve...and very happy they were too.......for all of one week! He dropped dead! Just how inconvenient was that?
So did we take Mrs Pemberton back ?...of course not ...we went and found another drake Mr Philpott 1 ....and very happy they were too until sadly he dropped dead as well a year or so later. Nothing to do with the stream I hasten to add ...which was well out of their territory and fenced. Off we went again and found a replacement gentleman ...who became Mr Philpott 2 and another lady who became Miss Philpott. We had a little family at last! Miss Phillpott however was frequently shunned by the happy couple who would be up and down the lane all day in and out of hedges and gardens looking for snails and slugs. Miss Phillpott was definitely playing gooseberry and her best friend became a chicken who frequently escaped into the lane.
We had eggs ...gorgeous rich eggs and decided to incubate some ..Mrs Phillpott was just toooooo busy to sit eggs! We provided them with a son .....Geoff Phillpott who was actually mothered by that escapee hen because none of the big ducks liked Geoff at all! You should have seen the panic when he got in a tray of water for the first time ...the poor chicken went hysterical! Geoff left us to become star attraction at a farm shop where he had two wives.
Because the ducks lived in the front garden they found they could rattle and shout through the cat flap for food ...and should anyone leave the back door ajar they would storm in and devour the cat food while the cats retreated to a safe distance aghast at these big white noisy creatures. There has been more than one occasion I have been up to my neck in bubbles in the downstairs bathroom only to see the door slowly opening and a big white duck peep round shouting for her breakfast...she would make her way through three rooms to find me!!!!
Sadly Mrs Pemberton was widowed yet again and then realisation dawned ....MISS Phillpott was in fact a small drake and soon became MR Phillpott 111...and so it has been for the last two years ...she bossed him unmercifully but he loved her dearly.
Mrs Pemberton sadly died yesterday after only being ill a short while and will be sorely missed by all the neighbours with toddlers who would walk down the lane to feed the ducks ...needless to say Mrs P would hand feed very happily. We dont know what we shall do with the grieving Mr Phillpott 111 as yet but hopefully a new home with perhaps a younger wench! We shall miss having ducks in the front garden because their gardening skills were brilliant .....no more mossy lawns, no slugs, snails or greenfly...amazing eggs in the lemon balm bushes under the roses and so much company on summer evenings when we would sit out to eat and her ladyship would demand tit bits from the table...
The end of an era I think for us and our garden ducks.............but it has been great fun and I would not have changed it one little bit.
13 comments:
Love this post and the history of your ducks. I always wanted ducks at Lee Farm but we would have had to divert the stream and then they would have been too far from the hosue for safety as we had so many foxes. But what on earth had poisoned your water? And continue to do so? That is truly shocking.
jx
Lovely post and your ducks sound great. Loved their names too - Geoff Philpott in particular tickled me!
Hang on - couldn't the escapologist chicken become a new love interest for the grieving and transsexual Mr P III (or am I not keeping up - as usual?)?
Completely loved your story - they sound such characters. By the way - did you ever find out what was causing the poison problem in the stream?
Poor old Mrs P. Ducks are part of my grand plan for Spring, I just love the eggs for cakes.
Should have put in what was poisoning the stream ...we live in a lead mining area ...heavy metals and ducks simply do not mix!
And a badger had the escaping chicken early one morning ...next morning he had the ten year old rabbit.....
Sad but a lovely story.
we had ducks when middle was jsut walking and they follwoed him about everywhere!! I do so feel sorry for you, poor mr duck must be lonely but remember your resolve adn dont get another!!!
I loved the saga of the Pembertons and Philpots! I too love my ducks and had a similar experience with a Jemima (as in Puddleduck) who ended up being Henry and poor Henry was really Henriette!
Loved your post SBS about the Ducks, I just adore Ducks. I often have to go past the Duck Pond near our local church, and always stop to see them.
Loved the names of your Ducks, but sorry to hear about Mrs 'P', that is sad. You have a very kind heart SBS.
Camilla.xx
I am sorry to hear the demise of Mrs P - please do get some more I just adore ducks!
We have far too many wild ones here on the moat who are always laughing - dreadful creatures -winds up Ollie hugely and he hastens to the water to tell them off then has a panic attack 'cos his feet get wet - idiot cockerel!
l do like to see ducks, get loads of wild ones about here, perhaps Mrs P's spirit might like to fly with them?
What a lovely blog, Eldest Daughter would like ducks, worried that the terriers would attack them, maybe we should give it a go, we do have a stream, no reason why not to, may you will have inspired me
Great post and all sounds so familiar! Well apart from the3 poisonous stream you poor thing! Happy New Year to you Snailbeach xx
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