Slight Setback

Oh, my. On Monday, the ducks' five-week birthday, I went out to the shed to feed them. All three ducks were present and quacky, but I found a trail of blood everywhere. Daisy, at least I think it's Daisy, had cut the webbing on her foot. And web wounds bleed copiously, like head wounds. My friend Carol came over and helped me clean and bandage Daisy's foot. I'm sorry I don't have a photo to show you what a beautiful bandaging job Carol did. But I didn't know how Daisy's foot would heal all bandaged up, so I decided to take her to the vet. I put her into a cat carrier without too much fuss, seat-belted her into the car, and off we went. Pretty soon Daisy started quacking. I had noticed that the ducks quack back and forth to each other when they can't see each other, to keep in touch. I felt I should be Daisy's fellow duck, so I started singing, mostly animal-themed songs. She especially liked "Old MacDonald" and "This Old Man." Whenever I stopped singing, she began to quack, so I kept singing. It's a 45-minute drive to the vet.

The vet had never treated a duck, but she was game. We discussed options, and decided on doing nothing except cleaning the wound twice a day and giving her an antibiotic.

Singing and quacking, we made it back home.

The wound seems to be healing well. Thank you, John, for being an excellent duck holder. I imagine that Daisy has some impressive stories to tell Maisie and Eggatha, and has probably gained some status. She's a brave, sweet duck. She deserves it.