Yesterday was an incredibly sad day. For almost a year now we’ve had 2 ducks as part of our backyard ‘poultry posse.’ Our middle daughter, Kate, named the ducks Kiwi and Banana. We could always tell them apart as Kiwi had a bum leg. Her right leg turned inward pretty dramatically. At one point when she was a little duckling she wouldn’t even stand on her legs, she kept going down in a sitting position and seemed that she couldn’t really get herself around on her legs. Almost like the she could not extend the leg straight enough to help herself walk. After some google consulting (yes, even veterinarians can consult google), I learned that this is sometimes seen in ducks. They can have different nutritional requirements from chickens. The store we got Kiwi and Banana from had been feeding the ducklings the same food as the chicks. Being first time duck owners, we bought the chick feed they recommended and on we went. Now we know that ducks may need supplemental niacin or they can have what we saw with our Kiwi, a funny bowed leg or even 2 bowed legs. Kiwi also developed what can be described as a stuffy nose. The 2 little holes on the top of her bill became thick with yellowish boogers. With supplementation of her feed, some medication, and some good nursing care, Kiwi pulled through. While her leg made it so she was never as quick as Banana or the hens, she could keep up with her poultry posse just fine. Her misshapen leg and all of the nursing care she needed as a young duckling made it so that Kiwi held a special place in my heart. She was an underdog who had needed her humans to help her fight the good fight and have a chance at a life doing all the things that Banana could do.

Over time I came to really appreciate the uniqueness of ducks. They waddle, they quack, they can fly (though they often don’t realize they can), they swim, they lay eggs. They’re just an all-around cool animal. Sure they poop like crazy, but we also have goats and they, too, are super poopers. Unlike the hens who laid their eggs in the nest box of the henhouse, the ducks randomly dropped their eggs absolutely anywhere which meant that I had zero interest in eating them. There’s nothing quite like stumbling upon a random egg dropped and rolled in mud and muck to turn you off from wanting to see it as your breakfast. We used the duck eggs to feed our pig. He really enjoyed the whites and the yolks but he wasn’t so crazy about the shells. Soon enough we noticed that the ducks actually really liked to eat the shells that our pig left behind. We’d break open the eggs we found on the ground and wherever they were, the ducks would come wadding and quacking to eat the eggs, choosing to eat the shell first. The ducks also had a good time swimming in water bowls. While we originally tried to give them a pool to swim in, they had trouble getting themselves in the pool as the ledge was more than a foot off the ground. Sure, we stacked bricks and other odds and ends to create a sort of duck-friendly ladder, but they never figured it out. Instead we’d chase them around until we caught them then place them into the pool. Once in the pool they’d either stay there until we came to put them away at night or on very rare occasions, they’d get themselves out of the pool. It seems unlikely that they used our improvised pool ladder to get out, but would instead actually flap their wings and fly out of the pool. I can say for sure, as no one ever saw them making their way out of the pool.

I knew that the ducks and the chickens were at risk of being eaten by other wildlife. We’d lost several hens last winter and never figured out exactly what other animal took them. One hen had been left for dead near our barn and the other 3 were gone. So we reinforced the hen house and placed it inside of a large sturdy pen. We extended chicken wire around the sides so that if any predators were diggers, they’d be hard-pressed to get through or under the pen. Unfortunately, the ducks weren’t very good about going into the pen at night. When we tried to round them up, they’d scurry in other directions trying to get away from us. Even with all of our socializing, holding, medicating, and treats, the ducks would waddle quickly away when we tried to round them up. So we typically gave up and with several other enclosures in the barn area, we knew they had plenty of options for shelter.

Then came the morning when I noticed that our golden retriever was outside in our yard, laying in the snow, happily munching on something, and disregarding our calls for him to come into the house. I went out to where he was laying and noticed that duck feathers made a trail from our barn area, through a small hole in the fence that separated our yard from the barn, and into our back yard. Realizing that one of the ducks clearly had had a run in with a wild animal, I went to the barn area to see where the other animals were. It was strangely silent. The rooster, who is usually crowing like crazy, and the hen, who is usually chasing after me for treats, were nowhere around. I found more evidence in the form of feathers and other gruesome clues that at least one duck had been found and taken away by some sort of animal. In my frantic hunt for the rest of our animals, I noted a large white shape off in the distance. With the snow on the ground, it wasn’t clear whether it was a drift of snow or something else. Running there, I realized it was Kiwi. She was lying on the ground with her chest and head in the snow. I assumed she’d been left there for dead by whatever animal had come and taken away Banana. But just as I got close, she let out a soft ‘quack’, letting me know she was still alive. Her neck was badly damaged and so were other places on her chest and her belly. She couldn’t hold up her own head. She couldn’t move, but she was still alive and clearly suffering. I gathered her up in my arms and ran into our house, crying for my husband to help me. We took her to a table in our garage and started up a heater to get her warm. With pain medications in another part of the house, I ran for them then came back to help ease the pain that Kiwi was surely feeling. As my husband and I looked at all of her wounds and how damaged her little body was, it became clear that euthanizing her would be the most humane and self-less decision we could make. The wounds left from the fox or raccoon or whatever else it may have been were far too extensive to repair. In my time as a home euthanasia veterinarian, I’d never imagined having to use the medications on my ducks. They’d always seemed so happy and so resilient with so much life ahead of them. As we said our goodbyes to Kiwi, we told her how sorry we were that this had happened to her. My heart was broken with the thought that she had been outside suffering long before I’d found her there. We spoke to her softly and stroked her head and she looked at us as if she understood how sad we were to be losing her. She was a fighter, having overcome her weak legs and had even managed to get away from whatever animal it was that had done this to her. It didn’t feel right to choose to euthanize her, but it felt worse to watch her suffer knowing that the wounds penetrating her neck, chest, and abdomen were already taking her life. The same hands that I’d used to help her gain her strength to walk were now helping her life to end. It was a horrible, cruel fate. I was distraught to see her suffering and so angry at whatever animal had done this to her. It wasn’t fair to her that she’d gotten away and was dying anyway. But I tried to remind myself that I was lucky to have seen her there, hurt in the field, and to swiftly provide medicine to help her feel better before saying goodbye. Kiwi and Banana, I miss your sweet quacks, waddles, and turning water bowls into swimming pools. Thank you for the time you gave us.