A lot of the people who have just recently started following my blog (believe me, there are quite a few people who have just jumped on the Lady of the Farm wagon) haven't gotten to see my animals grow up.
Sunni for example has my favorite story so far.
I have to begin with her mom's story though.
When the farmer and I were dating, for my birthday one year I went into Tractor Supply and I heard the "cheep, cheep, cheep" sound. I went and looked at the chickens and ducks and I put in that I wanted a duck. He saw it as an opportunity to get into the chicken business. I saw it as just getting a couple ducks.
Rosie, Charles & Faith as babies
We got three, Rosie, Charles & Faith. Faith had her own story. But after Faith passed away, Charles and Rosie just hit it off.
Once Charles died, we noticed Rosie seemed a little lonely. So the farmer bought her some company. Two runner ducks and a mallard. I couldn't stand the runners, it was nothing they had done, it was just I didn't really like them. I never "clicked" with them like I do so many off my other animals.
But they sure liked Rosie...
Rosie began laying eggs and we decided to see if we could hatch out a duckling in the incubator.
We had almost 16+ eggs from Rosie and we placed them in the incubator. We waited and waited and found a few fertile ones. But with incubating you have to be very, very precise and very, very careful. One day our incubator overheated and most of the ducklings died. Except one.
It was a few days past our "due date" and the farmer said that the heat may have gotten the last one and we just looked at it wrong, but something in me said it would be okay. So I told him to leave that one egg in there a few more days.
The morning of January 21st, I woke up to the sound of a little "cheep, cheep", I jumped up and ran to the incubator, inside was my little duckling stumbling around. I woke up Kevin and told him that she had finally been born!
The next day was when the tornadoes hit. It was the deadliest day due to tornadoes in South Georgia since the 60s. 12+ people were killed, 2 of which I had known. It was about 3 a.m. on Sunday when I was woken up by Kevin's phone, just the thought of that emergency alert sound gives me chills. *beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep* "THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ALERT ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. THERE IS A TORNADO WARNING ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY."
I turned to Kevin, "If the power goes out, will the duck be okay?" Kevin mumbled back, "It's not going to go out, it's going to be okay." So we went back to sleep.
No one expected the storm to be as bad as it was. The next morning we awoke to chaos. Our home was okay, a few shingles had fallen off, our house has shifted slightly so our floor was bowed up but that was all. Minor compared to other people in our area.
After a crazy day at work trying to help storm victims who were seeking shelter, I went home to my duckling. I still hadn't named her so I decided to call her "Sunni". It fit her good. She was our ray of sunshine in the midst of a terrible storm.
A few days later I noticed she had a leg that didn't want to cooperate. It was like she had laid on it too long with it stretched out, she couldn't walk on it. So, I figured that maybe if she slept on it the right way with it bent in, it may help. I maneuvered her the best I could without hurting her and checked back with her the next day, it had worked! She walked with a limp but she was able to walk, so I considered it an improvement.
After the storms had all passed (about three days of constant storms and tornado strings) Sunni and I went for a walk and got some fresh air. I decided to see if she would get along with any of the chickens... It did NOT work like I planned. One chicken ran up to her, pecked her wing and she ran and jumped into my lap. I tried many times after that with no luck. She just didn't like the chickens.
She was getting too big for her box in the house so we moved her to a pen outside big enough for her to have a pool and run around. The older she got the more she seemed to calm down and the more she seemed to be a little lonely.
We tossed around the idea of getting her a boyfriend but then something happened...
Rosie's duck friends were all killed by some dogs, so we brought her up to her daughter, Sunni. Sunni ran to the corner of the pen until she got used to Rosie.
Now every time I go out to the pen they're talking or swimming together.
Sunni's story is one of a kind, she has overcome many obstacles in her lifetime. So has Rosie. They had never met until a few weeks ago but they've seemed to hit it off pretty well. I love our little mother - daughter team we have here.
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