09/25/2023
Many of you saw the many posts about Quackers, our Magpie house duck hen. We also shared that she passed away unexpectedly on April 29th this year. We were privileged to have almost 9 months with our little angel.
On July 29th, a miracle happened. One of the nests that had been abandoned about a week prior by another hen, had a little one hatch out on their own. We'd thought the nest was no good and had planned to clear it out that weekend. We'd had some rain and the weather was nice and warm. We're fairly certain this helped that last week of incubation and our surprise baby to hatch.
We saw her running after any hen she could find but they all rejected her. She was crying and we brought her inside. We didn't have any other ducklings or chicks inside, so we took care of her. It was not ideal since we hope for all babies to be raised by their own mamas or at least their species. In this instance though, since that wasn't possible, we talked it over and decided that we would be taking on a new, permanent little house duck once again. We weren't sure if our hearts could handle it after losing Quackers. However, we believe that this little one was a gift from Quackers in a way.
We've named our little one Harley. Since her first day of life ended up with her riding on a Harley, safely tucked into my shirt. (Long story. Lol.) She has been growing like a tumbleweed and mending our hearts in her own way. We still miss Quackers so much. Harley has just helped us to reopen our once shattered hearts.
We wanted to share some pictures and videos of our sassy and spunky little Harley. She does go with me to work sometimes and helped us with fostering two little ones that had been abandoned by a first time mother. She's not overly fond of other ducks, but she'll tolerate them as long as they don't touch her. 😂 She has already started trying to share our showers but thankfully has not started jumping in with us. We had amazing neighbors that gave away a free bassinet and pet gate for us to use for her inside the house. We should hopefully have her new duck diapers within the next 10 days so we can let her move more freely inside. Harley does go outside a little but just for short periods as long as I'm near her and within her eyesight. Can't wait to share more of our little Harley as she continues to grow and blossom. ❤️
