Lucky Ducky Feeds the Hungry

I watched two coyotes frolic in our field today.  

One of them was probably the one that got “Lucky Ducky” a few days ago.  Lucky was an amazing duck.  We hatched her under a bantam hen, and she was raised to think she was a chicken.  When she became mature, we bought another duck to try to teach Lucky to behave more duck-like.  

Lucky was afraid of the water.  

She liked to hang out with her new duck friend.  They particularly liked to look for slugs and snails in the bushes together, but when the new duck went into the pond, Lucky went back to the chicken coop.  

One day I had enough of the mess she was making in the chicken coop, and I caught Lucky and threw her into the pond.  Perhaps I was cruel, perhaps a better man would have continued trying to bribe her into the pond.  But I am not a better man.  

I threw her out about six feet into the pond.  She freaked out.  But she floated and quickly figured out how to propel herself back to shore where she climbed out and waddled very quickly back to the chicken coop.  

But the next day, Lucky followed her duck friend all the way to the edge of the water.  She took a few drinks, and waddled back.  The following day she stood with her feet in the water.  Finally, she began to swim,  and soon discovered that there were a lot more yummy mollusks in the pond than in the bushes.  She began spending several hours a day on the pond.

Lucky was the best laying duck we have ever owned.  She laid an egg almost every day for over two years.  Perhaps she learnt from her adopted family.

Lucky was blind in one eye.  This made it easy to catch her when you needed to.  Unfortunately, it made it easier for the coyote too.

Bonnie saw the whole thing.  She said the coyote was efficient and it was over quickly.  No wonder the coyotes are frolicking.  They have been dining on grain-fed duck all week.