Normal Days in Pipke's Life: part 1

Although she was often ill; of course, in between she had also good periods. 
These were such happy times! 
Then she could be so cheerful, lively and even a little naughty.

A normal day started for Pipke at the crack of dawn. During her whole life we were then also usually awake around that time. It seemed as if we were programmed so.

We often could hear her already from upstairs in our bedroom – quacking loudly – even before we had opened the door to the garden.

Most of the time – it was my hubby who went to her pen to open the little gate.
From the moment she saw him, she started to bob her head. 
Then my hubby bobbed his head too, to answer this warm well come.
It was cute to see how she stood there – pushing with her belly against the little gate. She was really impatient to come out.

When my hubby then opened her pen, the first thing she did was to give him a snuggle, not a snuggle like she gave me, but rather a nibble in his fingers, her way to say “good morning” to “opa”.

(For her: my hubby's name was “opa”, and my name was “oma". She knew our names very well. Oma and opa are the Dutch names for: grandma and grandpa.)

Then she usually ran directly to the back door to welcome me in the laundry room. 
For this normal morning ritual, I always wore my Pipke's coat or my Pipke's shirt to keep my daily clothes clean for the rest of the day. It's not that she was really dirty, no - she was even very clean for a duck, but – as you probably know already: a duck can poo a lot.

Therefore, when I carried her in my arms, I wore her so – that her behind was free, (in fact she preferred to lie like this) so that she couldn't poo on my clothes.

Actually, she has done this very rarely because she shook her tale just before she was going to poo and then I knew what I had to do.

There was “one” exception in this morning ritual. So now and then my hubby let me sleep a little longer (fifteen minutes). When she then entered the laundry room and saw that I wasn't there, she went to look for me.

So, my hubby said to her: “Pipke – where's oma, call oma”, and immediately she started to quack!

Also my hubby called then: “Oma – there is a little one waiting for you!” Now she started to quack even louder.

Coming downstairs, I often could hear my hubby say to her: “listen Pipke! Do I hear something?” Whilst saying this – he stuck his finger in the air. She then kept quiet, raised her head, tilting it to left and right, listening very attentively.

When I called her then – she became really elated – full of joy! 
(This is how my hubby described these scenes to me afterwards.) 
From the moment she saw me, she started to quack even more exuberant and ran towards me – and she didn't stop quacking - until I picked her up.

Then there followed a “full love scene” in the laundry room. 

(Click on the link above to watch the full love scene!)

She cuddled me then over and over. 
Oh – she could be so sweet! 

This was the best way to start our day!

It depended on the weather but when it was cold, we sometimes let her sleep in the kitchen under my chair for a while – on her synthetic mat. 

She knew this spot very well, we only had to say: “*doeke doeke with oma”, and immediately she went to sit under my chair. 

(*Sleep with oma, in a Dutch dialect.)

When it was extremely cold, we let her stay inside for an hour or so to warm up. She slept then on the worktop of the laundry room often with her beak between her feathers while we were having breakfast.

                                                
So now and then we gave her a lukewarm bath. She was keen to take a bath in the sink.

We only had to watch out then that she didn't do her whole wash ritual, or the whole laundry room would get wet.

In fact: the laundry room was Pipke's room. I never used the worktop for anything other than Pipke. I only used the sink so now and then to hand wash some clothes.

We always had disinfectant ready in case that an accident should happen. We always were very watchful about her droppings because it can cause severe problems if it should get in touch with an open wound.

During Summer she wasn't interested in staying inside. After the cuddles she immediately wanted to go outside to sleep in her dog bed, or to make her nests between the Indian cane.

After approx. one hour it was time to look for earthworms.

Then she went to the fork. Most of the time the fork was planted somewhere in the garden – and then she started to quack there loudly until opa came outside.

It was sometimes beautiful to see how she and also a Blackbird were looking for worms together, while opa was knocking on the fork.

Once, I had found this blackbird in Pipke's pen. It was still a baby and it couldn't fly, it still depended on its mother.

I let it stay there in Pipke's pen and fed it every day. After some time, we could see them eat together, it seemed as they had become friends. This blackbird (we had named it Zwartje), knew also very well when it was time for worms. From the moment that Pipke stood there waiting near the fork, he appeared.

When we entered the garden house with Pipke to eat from the big grains supply container, sometimes also Zwartje flew inside to eat there. He then ate what laid on the ground – and he sat so close to us, that we could almost touch him. He was very at ease with us.

                           

It even happened a few times that he entered into our laundry room, he just followed Pipke.

When we sat together on the garden bench, or my hubby took a nap on the lawn with Pipke, he was always in the neighborhood. He became almost part of our family.

After this “earthworm buffet” and a visit to the grain container in the garden house, Pipke usually slept for the rest of the morning in her dog bed.

That was then for us the appropriate time to do our errands or to go to town.
If my husband and I went together to the city, we mostly always turned back home before 3:00 PM. We didn't want her to be whole alone for too long.

When we came back home then, and she heard us opening the garage door – she started to quack very elated. She gave us every time such a warm welcome – we were every time glad to be back home!

From the moment that the backdoor was opened – she came dashing inside and chattered and chattered. 
Oh, she had so much to tell us. 
It seemed then as if she asked us where we had been so long. Sometimes it seemed rather a protest.

Then opa had to come outside for “worm hunting”, but first of all – he had to put on the right clothing!

For her this was: a “worn out jeans”. If he wore then something else – as protest, she pecked to his legs.

For me: the same rules were applied. She preferred me in worn out jeans. 
So – we both had a lot of them – we wore almost nothing else when we were at home. Except for Summer: then she had no problem at all with our bare legs. This was probably because she had seen them (in Summer) when she was very tinny, and she had imprinted them!

When we were home the whole day, she was very active. 
She often called us to come outside, and then she went immediately to the garden house to eat there. She liked it very much that we pretended to be eating with her by making smacking noises.

We could really have fun when she was in a playful mood. Then it seemed as if she wanted to invite me to fly. I still can see her standing there so full of joy: then she looked at me – raised her head – bobbed a few times and ran to the right and to the left. She waited for me, and I said then: “let's fly Pipke”.  While I started to run – she jumped up half a meter high and followed me flying above the ground. She really liked to do this, then she was really thrilled.

When opa was working in the garden house at his bench, she wanted to be with him. So she sat under his bench while he was working. Sometimes the wood shreds even fell on her head – but she didn't mind. She had no problem with it, she only wanted to be with him. She could become really angry because he sometimes closed the door when he had something to do that could harm her.

I had to call her then to come to me, and I really had to comfort her, but after a few cuddles she had forgotten about it already. 
Thereafter, like a “good girl” she went to sleep in her dog bed.

During Summer, when the weather was good, my hubby took a nap in his easy chair on the lawn. 

She knew he would do so when the sun was shining.  
So – she settled on the lawn already, even before the easy chair was installed, waiting for him.

 Someone waiting for opa!

It was not only beautiful and endearing to see them both sleeping there, but it was also very funny to hear!

At times my hubby started to snore, and then you could see that Pipke was annoyed by his snoring. She then opened one eye – while she kept her beak between her feathers – or sometimes she raised her head and looked up to opa. 
It seemed almost as if she was thinking then: “now that's enough, you snorer!”

I often came closer to enjoy this scene fully! 

Without the noise this lovely scene wasn't complete!

I even filmed it and took pictures of it.

Only the view. 

Of course these were no pictures of my hubby looking at his best: with wide open mouth – not even mentioning the noise – it seemed almost as if he was sawing a heavy trunk through.

However - this chapter would not be complete if I did not add this 'funny' scene with 'sound'! 

In better times!

Pipke and opa taking a nap.

Enjoy!

Next time we will go further with: Normal Days in Pipke's Life part 2. 

Bye, bye! 

Maybe a little naughty of us. 

Hope you could have a good laugh

A Dissolution & Hormonal Problems

A Dissolution

After surviving this first food crisis we thought that she now would be safe. She had regained her weight before the first cold days of Winter 2000 – 2001.

We were almost sure that we wouldn't have to worry now, but … this positive outlook didn't last long.

On December 28 – she got again the same problem! Suddenly she stopped eating again, and after five days of loosing weight, we had to consult the vet again.

For us, this became the most dreadful New Year's eve we had experienced in her life so far.

We were so worried. It was cold and freezing now – and in that time she had no warmth lamp outside – only a cubby-hole. She had now also lost so much weight, that we sometimes had to consult the vet for tube feeding twice a day!

The vet tried to figure out was going wrong but he couldn't find out what the cause of her problem was. So - after nearly one whole month of tube feeding he suggested to take x-rays, maybe he could find an abnormality on it.

To take this x-rays he needed to put her under general anesthesia.

This became really a stressful situation!

Narcosis for birds is very risky!

We had seen birds being anesthetized on TV – birds that were healthy – and even some of them didn't survive.

Pipke wasn't healthy, but if the vet would find out what her problem was, then we had to take the risk.

The vet's co-assistant (a woman) would make the x-rays. She allowed us to join her to go with Pipke to the x-ray room. While I held Pipke in my arms the co-vet placed a hood on Pipke's beak. Pipke tried to shake the hood off, but - of course she didn't have enough strength to succeed in it.

Only a few seconds later Pipke fell in a deep sleep.

That was a very strange sight for us. She seemed now like a floppy rag doll. The co-vet now had to support her floppy long neck to avoid that her neck would get injured. Then she placed Pipke on the table and laid her in the correct position to take the x-rays.

After the x-rays were taken, the co-vet laid Pipke in my arms again. She was still in a deep sleep – and now, I was the one who had to support her floppy neck. The vet advised me to whisper very soft to Pipke while she awoke to put her mind at rest. If she could hear my voice then she would be less traumatized by the whole procedure.

While Pipke slowly awoke in my arms the vet showed us the x-rays.

(Unfortunately, I cannot show them to you. I asked a professional photographer to take digital photos of the x-rays, but that is not possible. One needs medical imaging equipment to do that. So I hope my description can give you more or less an image of the x-rays.)

It was amazing how detailed they were.

We could not only see Pipke's fine bone structures, but also the tiny ovaries with her very tiny egg cells – eggs in the making – which she carried in her body, and it were many!

(It seemed like a cluster of very tiny grapes.)

Those could have been her babies – the start of new life – but because she had chosen me as her partner there was no life possible.

Oh, I felt so sorry for her!

The x-rays showed no abnormalities.

On the one hand this was good – but on the other hand – now the vet still had 'no explanation' for what was happening to her.

Now we were completely puzzled.

During this illness period this season, we had to revisit the vet 26 times before she started to eat again.

Unfortunately, also this reassurance didn't last long. 
Only one week after she was eating well, she suddenly started to lay eggs again.

The poor thing, she still was far below her normal weight – she had just survived her 'second' fight – and now this.

Of course, this first egg wasn't a good one.

The shell wasn't developed well and it was very soft.

She started to lay eggs that year on January 30, 

and stopped laying eggs on August 9.

 As a good mom, carefully rearranging her eggs.

Fortunately she continued to eat now and that made us less worried.

The total amount of eggs that year was 92, far too much for her health!
 

*****

Hormonal Problems

Summer of 2001.

This Summer, 'the same problems' as the year before!

(I know - it's maybe a bit annoying that I have to repeat this, but I want to give a true picture of the story. This is reality thus I can't change it.)

Again she was exhausted from laying eggs (83 this season), lost weight – stopped eating and: there we went to the vet for tube feeding again!

Now it had already came so far that we assumed that she would have the same problems the next year.

And yes - our assumption was right, but this time it was even worse than before.

Now - June 2002 - she had problems with 'all' her eggs!

The whole month she had laid eggs, but this time they were all soft – not one had a firm shell.

Therefore the vet assumed that she had an hormonal problem, and he suggested to give her an injection to stop her from laying eggs.

Because we thought that this would solve her problem, we agreed with the vet, that this was probably the best solution for her!

After she got this injection (on June 26, 2002) she only laid a few very tiny eggs.

The injection had prevented the eggs to develop. At the end they were even not larger than a small bean! They were even so brittle that, when I took them up very gentle they fell apart in miniscule pieces and pulverized in my hand.

'I have kept a few of these last 'potential offsprings' as a souvenir. 

I keep them in a small old wooden chest, 

together with all what once belonged to Pipke.'

One of her last under developed eggs with a soft shell.

 A few of her last 'potential offsprings'.

For me this is now my treasure box of invaluable value.

(If my house would catch fire then I would enter my house and risk my own life to save this treasure from the fire.)

She laid her very last egg on August 28 of that year.

At that time we had consulted the vet already 105 times.

The vet's practice.

Would the injection stop the number of visits?

We wondered whether this would turn out in her favor.

If you want to know the answer to these questions, then I invite you to come again later for the continuation.

Bye, bye and thanks for reading !
Hope to see you again,
then I will take you for a ride 
'On the Roller- Coaster'.

Loving Memory

Today, September 14, 2014 -

it's already five years ago since Pipke passed away.

I just cannot believe that it can be that long ago. Never thought that her absence would weigh so heavy.

I know - for the world she just might have been a silly duck, but to me, 
she meant the world.

*****

My dear little loyal friend

Fate has brought us together.
I found you at the most precarious moment of your life.
You were only a few minutes old, so tiny, vulnerable and all alone struggling to stay alive.
Luckily I was there for you at the right moment so I could save you.
In return, you shared your little life with me; and what a life it was! 
Beyond expression is my love for you; words fail to express my gratitude. 
In my mind all memories are alive and deeply etched. 
In my heart I've reserved the softest place for you.
For as long as I'm aware of myself … I will remember you. 
Forever

Your
Oma

Pipke 

May 25, 1995 - September 14, 2009.

*In loving memory
*Watch: Pipke's life story in a nutshell.

PS: the sequel of Pipke's life story will follow soon. 

Thanks for your patience. 

Help... Robbers! & Making Nests

The next two years went as usual.

She was a cheerful and lively little creature. In the mating season she laid her eggs and together we made nests.  She had several nests at the same time, with many eggs, in fact … too many.

Sometimes there were so many eggs that I had to take the oldest ones away to avoid that they would *explode - and a few times - *that happened.

The stench of the rotting eggs was really disgusting! 
Then we had to clean the whole nest place thoroughly because the stench was really not to bear.

From then on we let her keep only one nest.

On the way to one of her nests among the reeds

Actually that was no problem for her because in fact, she was also no longer interested in the older nest.

In the late evening, at sunset, after she had covered her eggs careful she went to her pond to spend the night.

On a certain morning my hubby released her out of her pen and as usual she ran immediately to her nest.

Not half a minute later she came running back to us – quacking loudly and a little in panic.

We wondered what had happened.

Together we went to watch her nest, and there we found a few broken and empty eggs "beside" her nest and one egg broken in her nest.

How could an egg ended up beside the nest, how could that happen!

Our garden was secured with a fence. Could there have been an intruder?

So we removed the empty eggshells, cleansed her nest and without hesitation Pipke went back brooding on her eggs.

Then the next morning before my hubby went to Pipke's pen he first went to watch her nest to be sure that everything was OK there.

Unsuspectingly he grabbed inside the nest to count the eggs when - suddenly he felt a sharp stabbing pain. 
I heard him yelling – ai! 
Of course - I was curious and so I went to see what was going on there!

When he looked inside the nest he discovered he had hurt himself on the prickles of an Hedgehog!

Now we knew who the “evildoer” was!

The little rascal had rotated himself around an egg to squeeze it and so to break it.

Unfortunately for him: despite all his efforts - today - there would be no omelette for breakfast! :)

Of course - we couldn't leave him there and we also didn't want to kill him.

So my hubby put on a pair of leather garden gloves to pick up the little bandit – and even through the gloves he could feel his prickles. 
Then he took him to the nearest woodland and released him there.

Now we still wonder: had Pipke panicked because she had felt the nasty prickles of the hedgehog?

We will never know.

To prevent that more evil doers could enter the garden, we closed the small slit under the little garden gates. In case they were still inside, the evenings thereafter we also took her eggs away and in the morning we put them back .

Thereafter we saw only once another hedgehog and my hubby brought this one also to the woodland.

Quite at ease resting in her dog-bed on the *countertop of the laundry room -

(her *favorite spot for her early morning nap)
waiting for cuddles!

Making Nests

Now it was safe in the garden. We could leave the eggs in the nest and she could make nests wherever she wanted and, that was sometimes in the most odd places.

Once she had made a nest between the branches of the Cotoneaster. She had to wrench herself between the rigid twigs. it wasn't at all easy to get in or out the nesting place, she sometimes almost got stuck with her tiny feet between the twigs. To make it easier for her we clipped a few of the larger branches.

While we were cutting the branches she stood watching there. It almost seemed as if she was supervising our work: and yes, she approved it. From the moment the entrance was widened she went to sit on the nest. It was cute to see how sometimes, only her head or sometimes only a tiny piece of her crest came peeping through the sticks. This nesting place, with a good entrance (now there was a hole in the Cotoneaster) would become, for the rest of her life, a place to return to often. Therefor we always kept the entrance open.

Two chatter boxes at her nesting place between the cotoneaster. 

Look how dense these twigs grew. 

In between these stiff twigs she made nests. 

We often stood there together while she chatted and chatted – she loved that place – we had made it especially for her.

Another odd spot was: our muck heap. She'd chosen this place itself.

Of course: I would have taken her to another spot but probably she had chosen this place because it was warm there. She crawled then on top of the heap, and I presented her then some new twigs or Bamboo leaves. It was really beautiful to see with how much love and devotion she arranged them carefully around her body.

It was really beautiful to see with how much love and devotion she did this. The most obvious place for a nest was in a corner of her pen. We covered this nest with reed and so she had a sheltered nest.

 The best year of her life followed.

Our happy little princess!
Resting in her dog-bed outside the house besides our backdoor.

I call it the best year, because – at that time she was still very healthy. 
We didn't have to worry about her health: she weighed 2.400 kg. This was even maybe a little overweight. She was very vivid, made nests, laid eggs and she went through Winters with freezing temperatures of - 20° C (- 4 F) without problems, and even with this low temperature she stayed outside – without a warmth lamp.

The only bad periods in her life so far had been the molting periods, then you could really see her suffer, then she lost weight, and she wouldn't let you touch her, we really felt sorry for her then.                                        

She now had become five years old. 
She was in the prime of her life but – suddenly things changed dramatically!

I will tell you later what happened, then I will go further with:

Pipke on TV! (2000)   

 See you!