Our Ducklings
I'll start of by introducing myself. My name is Ryan my mum is the Senior Non-Clinical Manager of Summerhill Veterinary Centre. This is the story about our experience looking after ducklings, whose lives were threatened as they're mums had died.
It all started with three ducklings. Since we got them the week of the election my sister name them Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron. Strangely, Gordon always seemed a little grumpy. The next day, I get home from school to find my mum has brought home 9 more! (the picture above shows all 12). Now I had to cope with 12 ducklings tweeting all the time!
Not so long after it was a big day, the day of their first bath. We put them in and they loved it! They paddled around everywhere, and one even tried to swim! by this time, you could really tell the difference between the first 3 and the other 9.
A few weeks later, and they had gotten really big. We chose to take advantage of the fact we had our pool up, and since we had finished going in it, we put the ducklings in there. This was the first time they ever swam properly. They were swimming under each other, between each other, under the water and they also seemed to like flapping their wings as well. We had to feed, and as they grew they started to eat duck pellets. They also enjoyed eating lettuce, spinach and liked leaving big patches of cut grass and holes in the garden. I have to say, the only downside to looking after these fluff-balls was the poop. It smelt really bad :-(
May 28th, my birthday. I got home from school and got ready for my party. I stepped outside to see 12 fully-grown ducklings running around the garden! I had to catch them all, I opened the case door and let them in, 9 got in by themselves, the other 3 (who were the first 3) I had to catch. I caught the first and second one easily, then the last one, I had to follow around the garden. I finally caught it when it stopped for a rest. I could finally get ready after 15 minutes of chasing ducks.... Best, Birthday, Ever.
Finally, the time came to release our ducklings. It was very emotional, well, at least mu mum was. We went to the canal in Rogerstone, a safe place for wild life. As soon as we found a good spot to release them our friend Mike, from City Wild Life, put them down and opened their cages.
It felt so good to watch them run around and swim in the cannel. We stayed for about 10 minutes, watching them and taking pictures and videos, then we decided to go.
As we left, they started to follow us. Mike explained that this was a bad thing, as they could go on a road or go near some violent animals, so we had to go faster. Eventually, we left, and we returned to our boring lives.
After about a week, we went to visit again, and they still recognized us. They waddled up to see us and I managed to get some pictures.
Well, that’s about it there's not much left to tell. What a life experience we all gained by looking after the ducks! I hope you enjoyed reading this, I had fun making it!!!
By Ryan Hart Aged 13
