Morfuth

We've got her back home!

Sorry, with all this excitement over Morf I've not been communicating very well.  It started last Wednesday. We'd been on luncheon duty and just settled down with a cup of coffee in the early afternoon.  One of the workmen knocked at the door to say that there was something wrong with one of our ducks, she was just sitting there and couldn't walk.

It was Morf, and in spite of the fact that she could only propel herself forward with the aid of her wings she was hard to catch.  I thought she might have been fought over and trampled on by those oversexed boys and hurt her legs, but her legs moved well, I couldn't feel any egg that might have got stuck, and she kept quiet while I examined her.  I set her down in the enclosure and shut both gates so she wouldn't be bothered by the other 8 - but could still see them.  She did try and stand up several times and to walk, but kept collapsing and went into the water where she seemed comfortable. I'd set food and water [with some comfrey tea in it] so she could reach it without getting out of the pond.

Did a lot of Morf-watching from the bedroom window, even doing some ironing to make use of the time, and when the light was just beginning to fade at quarter past seven I was amazed to see her come out of the pond and walk - with great difficulty but hardly using her wings - up the ramp and into the hut, where she settled down for the night ............... only to be trampled on by the other 8 when I drove them in.

On Thursday morning all came out in a tearing rush and into the water as usual, and I couldn't see how Morf was until a little later when I saw her hop, rather than walk, back into the little pond.  I kept an eye on her all morning and determined, if she was no better by lunchtime, to take her to the vet's.

These two views of Morf on the left and above are from Thursday late morning [seen through the ropes of Annie's present, the 'floating seat' hanging from the first big cherry tree].  Although it looked as if she'd been eating and drinking, I got worried about how curved her lower back was; it made me suspect that she was egg-bound rather than having any problems with her legs, although there had been 7 eggs in the hut on Wednesday.  Swift action would be necessary in this case as the condition often leads to the death of the duck if not treated quickly.  I rang our normal vet's and asked if they had anybody who could treat ducks - having had bad experiences with the last three ducks I'd taken there.  No, they hadn't, the receptionist said, but she could recommend Chine House Veterinary Surgery and Animal Hospital in Sileby who had an avian section.

When I rang there the vet was doing operations, but we were told we could bring our duck for 5 pm.

It was difficult to catch Morf again, in and out of the pond twice she went, then under the hut, but John just managed to grab her.  I had prepared a cardboard box for her with her normal bedding into which she fitted nicely, and then we were off to Sileby, about ¾ hour's drive.

Chine House is a huge Victorian building, we could see the stables where Julie and Andy's horse Jagon had been hospitalized once for a week, and the surgery was over-full of dogs of all kinds, cats, rabbits and one bird, a small parrot by the look of it.  We had waited for about 20 minutes when the vet called us.  It was obvious from the start that he knew and loved ducks, knew what he was talking about, and I had the greatest confidence in him.  As he couldn't find anything wrong with her legs either he suggested keeping her in for 24 or even 48 hours, was going to take X-rays, give her a calcium injection and an intravenous feed if she wouldn't eat or drink.  We felt we left her in good hands as we returned home.  As Sileby is not all that far away from Rothley we were going to drop in on Pearl briefly, but then we realized it was only 25 to 6 and she would not have been back from work then.

At quarter to 9 that night I was surprised and pleased to receive a phone call from the vet, telling me that the X-rays had revealed that she did have an egg stuck, and that after the treatment she had received so far she was standing a little better already.  If she hadn't passed that egg the following morning they might have to resort to an operation to remove it.

By lunchtime yesterday I hadn't heard anything and rang Chine House for news, but the vet was operating again and the receptionist couldn't tell me more.  The vet did ring, though, a couple of hours later, and it was very good news.  Morf had passed the egg that morning and we could collect her any time!

After paying the bill we had to wait a while at the surgery,  then the nurse came and said she was getting Morf but it seemed to take ages.  We heard lots of complaining quacking at one stage and thought they had trouble catching her, but no, when she was brought eventually the nurse explained that they had had to remove the intravenous feed tube out of her leg, put a little pad of cotton wool and a bandage over the wound.  We could roll off the blue bandage in the morning, she said, and if the leg started bleeding again just to apply pressure on the would for a short while.

Morf didn't seem well enough to put straight with the others, so we put her with the box she'd travelled in into the new sun lounge, with some food and a bowl of water.  I cut out one side of the carton so she could come out easily if she wanted, but before I'd finished cutting she'd jumped out over the top!  She was still very unsteady on her legs but was very eager to eat and drink.  She investigated all around the room, looking through all the doors, trying to find a way out.  After taking a couple of photos, and having shut the others into their huts, we decided to leave her in peace to rest for the night.

 

I was sleepless half the night and got up before 6 to try and write up Morf's little story.  John decided to get up early, too, and drive to do the weekly shopping.  When he went downstairs to take a look at her he shouted up that she was having a very vigorous wash and brush up in the bowl and that she was running through the room!

I apologize about this rubbish picture on the left, showing Morf looking through the door and lit by the security light as John drove off.

I took a couple more photographs of her - you can see how the bandage had unravelled already overnight.  When I took it off later the wound didn't bleed any more.  I managed to grab her quite easily this time from behind; she was standing in a narrow box underneath the spiral staircase facing the wall ................. and she'd laid another egg in that box - the nurse had told us there was another egg on the way!  The little photo shows the egg she laid this morning on the left and the one she had difficulty passing on the right [the nurse at the surgery had kept it for us].  In between them I put, for comparison, the tiny egg [I'm sure there's no yolk in it, it happens sometimes] that Fanny dropped on the run the other evening and above it a more normal sized-one from this morning.

Because Morf was making such a racket in the sun lounge trying to get out I decided to take her out with me while filling the water buckets and releasing the others ..... bad mistake!  She was off like a shot, maybe to find her mates.  I saw her again in the wild flower patch

on her way to the big pond.  I've no idea why she headed for that after her last bad experiences there, but she kept returning to it after I drove her out twice by spraying the water hose on her and even after Captain - whom I had to let out eventually - had tried to drown her twice.

 

She spent a great part of the morning on the big pond, at first shouting loudly for her companions, bu
but they very meanly ignored her as if she'd been a stranger.  Captain and his three went off into the field to forage, but after a little time Anabelle came back and kept Morf company.  The two of them came off the water and worked their way through the orchard.  It was Anabelle who eventually led her back to her group, in front of the garage near the bird food birch where I'd scattered rice.  After that Morf spent all afternoon with her group.

John and myself were busy all day with painting in the sun lounge which enabled me to keep an eye on Morf.  I got increasingly worried about her because of the great difficulty she had in coming out of the frog pond, collapsing time and again and slipping off the stones, and how kept herself apart in a corner under the philadelphus  -  but then she did preen herself extensively which I saw as a good sign.  If you considered all the things this little duck had gone through since Wednesday you could see that she must still be weak and needed to rest a lot.

When it came to duck bedtime I had more bad experiences with her.  The other 8 were standing ready by their hut, but she just wouldn't come out of the frog pond - probably because she had found it so difficult earlier.  So I first went to the lower hut to shut Hedda, Candida, Anabelle and Captain in for the night, but then I had to do something to get Morf out of the water, I couldn't leave her there all night, could I.  So I fetched the longest pole I could find to try and guide her out ........... absolute panic in Morf!  Once she flew out in a great fright, but instead of heading for the hut she flew straight back into the water, considering it the safest place.  She went from one side to the other to escape me and the pole, in the end resorting to diving, staying under for ages and resurfacing at an opposite end - once she stayed under for so long that I thought she'd drowned.  Finally, she leapt out in fear at the very steepest edge and hid herself behind a big flower pot behind the wall of the fish pond, just a little piece of her wing could be seen.  There I could at last get hold of her, dry her off in a towel and carry her into the hut, the other 8 followed.  I felt so very sorry for the little creature, after that much effort she must have been exhausted - I felt done in myself.

PS on Sunday 3.4.:    Morf came out as normal with the others, the night's rest must have done her some good.  Even after Captain had pinned her down she could run around as before with the rest of them.  But I'm her greatest enemy now after all the times I had to catch her, she avoids me like the plague.  When I turned up at the gate and all 9 of them were in that little pond she leapt out of the water, ran up the ramp and hid herself in the hut! 

Funny thing with ducks, no problem for ages and then three all at once.  First Morf, then BBD who's been limping since Wednesday and sits down frequently to take a rest [but who still manages to limp extra fast when he wants to defend his ducks from Captain and to take part in the fighting], and all this afternoon Circle has been sitting separately by one or other of the water containers, even during the frequent and sometimes heavy April showers.  Then Captain came and grabbed her, yanking her head pitylessly from one side to the other and hacking at her eyes - or so it looked to me through the window.  I rushed out in my white socks [which are now black] to chase the little fiend away.