You can imagine after losing Georgie yesterday in such a violent, horrible way, the ducks are traumatized and so am I.
They are sticking close to the house, and I sat outside with them for hours today.
O’Malley seems the most upset, which makes sense to me. Georgie and O’Malley were together for a few years now, and O’Malley is also very sensitive.
Chewy stayed right up against the house and kept a careful eye on the yard. This is a “safe” spot for the ducks, but only when I am home. When I’m at work, this just isn’t safe anymore.
Petunia broke many, many blood feathers on both wings in her fight against the raccoon, but this wing is the worst. It is bruised and swollen from the trauma.
She also has a few sutures on her shoulder but will hopefully heal. She threw up a bit today but Dr Ford thinks it was because of the antibiotics. We adjusted her dosage and she has been eating and drinking well otherwise.
When it got too cold to stay outside any longer, I sat right inside the glass door and the ducks stayed on the deck.
Unfortunately the raccoon came back at exactly the same time as yesterday. I opened the sliding door and all the ducks ran inside the house very quickly.
Flapper was unwilling to go back outside for quite a while, and the ducks really get terrified when they sense danger now. They were literally shaking with fear.
Chewy kept watch over the yard, and after about an hour he decided he wanted to go back outside.
O’Malley and Petunia preferred to stay in the house, so they did.
Eventually, around 3:30pm, all the ducks went back outside and right into their predator-proof night pens. O’Malley is still the most terrified and upset, but I am hopeful that after a few days of safety in the pens, they will all feel more at ease.
They will not be out of their predator-proof pens unless I am with them any more. We will be building a much larger predator-proof day pen that encloses both of their ponds and surrounding area in the next few weeks or month. A few of you have emailed about donating money to the new pen or have donated to the Kozmo Kirby Memorial Fund in Georgie’s honor. I appreciate any donations to the fund, and those will be used strictly for rescues in the spring. I do not currently need financial help with the new pen, but I appreciate everyone’s offers so much. There are a few offers to physically help build the new pen, and I’m working to figure out how/when/what and will get back to everyone as soon as I can.
Thank you so much for all of the comments and tips and good thoughts and well-wishes. We all miss Georgie so dearly, but none more than O’Malley. Please send him your extra good thoughts tonight as he copes with the loss we all share.
Love,
Tiff
