The Chronicles of Donna the Duck:
Chapter 1: Getting our duck.
All last summer I had fancied having a duck, just one pet duck. Although Mel my husband didn't oppose me, we both
kept coming up with snags that seemed to loom large. 'What about the dogs?, where do we keep her?, what do we do
when we want to go away for a weekend or a holiday on our boat? what do we do for a pond?, what happens while we are
at work all day?, all these problems crowded in when I started hankering for a duck. Another thing that bothered me
was I was quite proud of my garden and although I could accept a certain amount of untidiness, I did not want my
flower beds devastating. I talked to a friend who had some experience of ducks and she said she doubted one duck
would cause much damage and she would always board our pet while we went on holiday. Even with such helpful advice
we dithered the summer days away without making a decision. So early next summer when the days started lengthening
and the old itch came back, we decided to go and get ourselves a duck and sort out the problems later. So we did.
The decision to buy was made on a May 1st, so we both had a day off work. The local evening paper was
advertising a local pet shop had Aylesbury ducklings and were open on this Mayday, so off we went, complete with
cardboard box containing an old curtain. This was our only preparation. We drew a blank at the pet shop, all sold
out, so we can't be the only ones to want a duck. Fortunately the paper also carried an advertisement for ducklings
from a private house about 10 miles away, so we persevered.
The address proved to be a normal semi in a suburb with a long garden behind the house. We were directed down the
garden to meet Mr Smith who showed us into a large garden shed. In this he had a collection of birds, rabbits and
ducklings. There were several breeds of ducks but I had set my heart on the Aylesburys so he showed us a pen with
about twelve ducklings all huddled together under a heat lamp. 'They are three weeks old' he said 'and are quite ready
to leave. I do have some two
weeks old birds but that is a bit too young, you might not manage to rear one of them.' He picked up a duckling and
handed it to me, a ball of yellow fluff with big feet and a big beak and two sharp black eyes. It squawked and wriggled
as it realised it had been taken away from its companions. I asked Mr Smith if this was a duck as we preferred a duck
to a drake and he took it back and examined its most intimate places with a practiced eye. "Well, I think this is
a duck, but I cannot guarantee it as it is difficult to tell at this age", he said. I said never mind, we will
take the chance and keep our fingers crossed. I was already feeling attached to this little scrap of fluff so we paid
our magnificent fee of £1.50 and turned to go. Then Mel, the more practical one asked what to feed her on
and Mr Smith very kindly gave us a bag of layers pellets which she was accustomed to. He also gave us a bag of wood
shavings for use as bedding. So we were getting equipped, and beginning to solve those problems. On our way back to
the car Mr Smith told me to mind my coat or she could mess right down the front so I gingerly held 'that end' away
from me .... until we got to the car when I installed her in the awaiting carton. Mr Smith warned us against letting
her swim before she got her proper feathers as she could get waterlogged and drown. I didn't like to tell him we
hadn't even got a pond yet, that was one of the problems yet to solve. I sat very proudly with the carton on my
knee on the journey home and stroked the poor little frightened scrap of life and talked soothingly to her.
What had happened to her, one minute nestled close to others of her own sort, next, finding herself in a strange box,
on her own and surrounded with strange sights and sounds. She soon, however decided to pull herself together and
she stood up so she could see over the top of the box and had a good look around. She made some funny squeaky
sounding noises, not quite quacks, so these were possibly her comments on this strange world.
On the way home we discussed names and as we didn't come up with anything very original we decided on DONNA in case
she turned out to be a drake, then we could easily change it to Donny. So now we have a duck and she had a name,
now to solve the problems
THE FIRST FEW DAYS
We had not taken our two Border Collies with us on this expedition, we did not want to ask for trouble, so now we
had to introduce the new member of the family. What would Meg and Bess think of her?
Donna would have to come into the house while we got her accommodation sorted out so the confrontation would be thrust
upon us. Well, Meg and Bess just looked at her and decided to act as though she did not exist, they were completely
uninterested and I was amazed. I think they were a bit disgusted with me for bringing that thing into the house,
but if they ignored it long enough it might go away. Meg who was 14, just had a quick look then went into a quiet
corner and decided a nap was the best idea. Bess's reaction appeared to be quite nil, but she was not missing a thing,
it was just below her notice and she was not going to show us any interest in it. Donna did not seem perturbed so that
worry seemed to be pretty nebulous.
Next Chapter Donna's Photograph Album
