Lucky Bolt
We have a new addition to the Granite Glen household.
His name is Bolt.
Bolt the Duckling.
Now we aren’t sure exactly if ‘he’ is a He or a She…
But apparently the name Bolt will serve both genders equally. (According to my offspring).
He was ‘rescued’ by Dash and Violet two days ago when they checked their yabby traps. Apparently he was ‘stuck’ in the weeds.
While I suspect his mother may have been duck-diving to hide from curious little humans, by the time they had carted him home to me – delighted by their ‘save’ and with him being all covered in nasty human scent – I decided we’d better try to see if we could keep him alive here. He spent the first two nights in the house – escaping from each little ‘house’ created for him and causing numerous search-and-rescue missions – so today we moved him out into a cage on the lawn.
I tweeted, facebooked and googled to find what we could feed Bolt… and discovered I had pretty much NONE of what was recommended.
So we tried soaked (in warm water) raw muesli and chopped lettuce.
Apparently little ducks like both…
but not as much as they like WATER.
(Aside: while he was a resident of the bathroom I discovered him swimming in circles in our deep bath… Violet had put him in there and then forgotten him! He had quite a nap once back on his bed of towels.)
I found an unused plastic container deep enough so he could swim but shallow enough to get himself OUT of again…
He adores climbing IN …
PLOP!
And then…
OUT!
The covers on the cage were put there for shelter from the sun, and from the prying claws of our long-term resident creatures… Middy the cat and …
Axel the super-curious gigantic pooch!
Bolt the Duckling is quite bold now, considering he would be a mere appetiser for the Great Dane watching over him!
I wonder what is on Axel’s mind?
Bolt the Bold is very slightly less wild and bolt-y than he was 48 hours ago (when I was sure he’d expire of heart failure caused by his abduction rescue).
Munching on some weed and swimming to his heart’s content…
Time will tell if this duck is ‘lucky’ (in sarcastic tone) or really a Lucky Duck.
All hints for keeping a teeny wild duck alive in captivity, gratefully accepted!
🙂
BB
5 Comments
Gretchen in KS
Oooh! Very cute!
We’ve raised chickens and geese (including some Canada geese–your little one makes me miss them something fierce!) but never a duck. Since our farm and feed store is not far, we’d just run over and get a bag of chick starter, but your travel time might make that a bit trickier… I know our chickens were just as happy with horse feed as their own crumbles. Weren’t put off by the molasses at all. 😉 For that matter, chickens will also happily eat dog kibble. Ducks probably would, too. (For a baby, you might crush some up into smallish bits–doesn’t have to be powder, but small enough to swallow.) And having the little one out in the grassy yard won’t hurt, either–though with a duck, it might be even happier with the bugs in the yard, as the grass itself. You might see if a little baitfish in his/her swimming pool, or perhaps a fishing worm interests little Bolt. It’s my understanding that ducks are omnivorous. Don’t be worried if the little one eats a few bits of rock or gravel, they need grit in their crop–you should be able to buy chick grit if you end up at the feed store. A little goes a long way. And… I’d better stop. I’m betting there is at least a metric tonne of advice on the internet for raising fowl. 😉
Nancy in Iowa
What an adorable little….whatsit!! Are you sure Axel isn’t a horse? The look on his face reminds me of that on my German Shepherd many years ago when I was keeping an injured pigeon in a large wire cage. Fritz determined it was his job to, er, watch over said bird, whether as his flock of one to guard or as a future food source, I never knew.
Colin (HB)
Should be no problems – we had “wood ducklings” as pets. They eat chook food, corn is a favourite. When they grew up, they would fly off during the day to dams and rivers and return of an evening to eat and sleep with the muscovy ducks and the chooks. No problems with either the cattle and sheep dogs and one “burr” crazed cocker spanial or the two cats.
Just for the record cocker spanials and burr patches do not mix! Buggers of things to remove from a yelping dog! ha ha.
Scotty
Too cute; I’d say more but I just wanna relax with a couple of red wines after more work on my mate’s pergola today 🙂
Scotty´s last blog post ..Going, Going…
Theresa in Alberta
when my kids were young we used to go to the park and feed the ducks bread crusts. Awe, poor Axel looks like he just wants to be friends eh! 😉