Luna has been in the house for a couple of weeks and is doing fairly well, though she doesn’t eat well in the house and has lost weight. This has been a source of constant worry for me, which has led to a lot of work, as I have tried so very hard to make Luna comfortable enough to eat.
Thankfully, after lots of trial and error, I found that she would eat some if she was in the bathroom with the door closed for privacy. I put food on a towel, and if I left her alone long enough, she would eat some peas and homemade whole grain bread. While bread is not great for ducks because bread from the store lacks nutrition, we have pretty good luck with the bread Ron makes because he grinds the wheat and keeps the bread quite nutritious. In fact, that’s the point of doing it.
When we have animals in the house who won’t eat anything else, sometimes, the bread keeps them going during the rough patches until we can get them back to eating their food. This has definitely been the case with Luna.
The aspirin did wonders for the swelling in Luna’s leg. In fact, she is able to walk around quite a bit now, though she certainly hobbles. Yesterday and the day before yesterday, Luna spent some time outside. When she is outside and with her people, she eats well, so I am working to make sure she has as much outside time as her leg can handle. However, last night, at her insistence, I let her sleep in the duck house instead of our house, and I think that was a mistake. She seems a little set back on her healing journey today.
Still, as I write this, Luna has finished tub time and is sitting in her nest box with straw. I am about to wrap her leg with vet wrap and let her have some outside time again today.
Mostly, over these last couple of weeks, I have discovered lots about her personality. She is not a huge fan of me. I can’t tell if it’s because I am the one who messes with her for her care or if she is just not a fan of my personality type. She’s pretty no-nonsense, and I am full of all kinds of nonsensical ways, perhaps. She tolerates Ron more but seems to greatly love our teenage son still and perks up when he walks into the room.
She also seems to have zero problem adjusting to rejoining the flock, and as I have watched her, I have been able to tell that she is one of the dominant personalities in the flock. When she returned to the flock yesterday, they followed her around and did what she did for a long while. I can see why she likes it better with her people. I wish she could stay–but not yet.
I thought, perhaps, she just had a dislocated ankle, but I do think it was more of some kind of small fracture as well. She is doing much better, but it’s clearly going to take a couple more weeks before she can fully return to the flock. Still, I think just about a month or so is pretty good overall.
One great irony for me is that she seems to like Bairre. He has come to visit her a couple of times, and she just touches his nose with her bill in such a sweet way. I’m like, “Oh, you like the one who did this to you, but you hiss at me? Great, Luna!”
And that’s how is seems to be so far with me and Luna. I love her so much, even if she doesn’t love me back. There are lessons in that, are there not?
