Adventures of Spook: Baby Spook survived terror

This is an adventure of a baby, who at 3-days old, survived a terror that many of us only know from Halloween horror films. How did he do it? and… Where is he now?

It all started when he was born to a mother, who although fiercely protected her children, was unable to defend them from the terror about to come.

Left to die, this is his baby adventure. This is about his hurdles… his strengths…his failures… and his accomplishments… But most of all this is the account of how this little baby, stole our heart… and our home…

This is the Adventures of Spook… The House Duck.

Question: What happens when a mother can’t protect her babies?

Answer: Fatal Consequences…

Adventures of Spook – The House Duck

Spook was born over night on October 20, 2020. His mother (a Khaki Campbell) laid him as an egg 28 days prior. Spook’s egg was adopted by another female duck who kept it warm until he hatched out in her nest underneath our front porch.

I came out that first morning to the surprise of the dozen tiny little ducklings. “Momma”, a proud broody duck, toted the 12 lovingly around while displaying them majestically to the rest of the flock. It was a very happy moment for all of us here on the Misfit Farm.

However something wasn’t as it should be.

Later that day as I was walking up out lane, I spied the 12 day-old ducklings alone in the pond. They were crowded at the edge of the water and huddled to each other for warmth. I found Momma 20 feet away playing with the rest of the flock near the porch. They were chasing each other in mating rituals and not one of them was tending to the babies. I could have stopped and scooped up all of those babies before Momma even had the time to notice me… but she trusted me. My proximity to her babies was neither obtrusive nor threatening…but to me it seemed as if she had abandoned her children, leaving them to fend for their own protection, warmth, and defense in case of attack.

They aren’t even a day old… Just what was she thinking?…

I figured that Momma was a duck and she knew more about raising baby ducks than I did, so I left them alone. The babies were only 2 inches long from beak to tail so I can imagine it was hard keeping track of all 12 little ducklings. If the dog came near she would squawk and act like a distressed duck to lure the ‘would-be’ predator away from her children. The dog didn’t buy it and he really didn’t care. He wasn’t interested in the ducks at all. It was a ball thrown in a game of catch that had his main attention and having a morsel of duck was not going to get in the way of his finding his tennis ball.

When night fell, all of the other ducks went into their duck coop for bedtime, except Momma duck. The duck coop shelter we designed is to house the flock overnight and to protect them from predation. Conversely, Momma was confident that she could protect her babies from the evil horrors of the darkness and she shied the babies away from the coop. With only the low illumination of the front porch light, she sat out in the open on all 12 babies to keep them warm. She occasionally escorted them to the water feeder for a midnight swallow or to the pond for a late-night swim. Everything appeared fine and all seemed well, however when we woke up on the third day, there were only 11.

I told Momma that morning, “If you are missing just one more baby, I am going to take them and raise them all by myself!”. I just thought I would step-in if needed and raise these precious little ones…but she was good that day. She tended to them and they barely got far from her sight. The ducklings were kept warm, fed, and close to her just in case the terrorizing dog was after that sky-bound ball again. TShe appeared to be bound and determined to protect these babies…

or so we thought…

The fourth morning came and we slept in a little late. We were awoken by the crazy squawking of an upset momma duck. Momma was running and flying by herself around the yard. “The babies are gone!”, “OMG…. not again.. NOT ALL OF THEM?…”, I cried as my heart was absolutely breaking. I canvased the yard in only my flip flops and pajamas for 2 hours trying to find a sign of a baby duck…. just one… any one… somewhere… anywhere. But no little baby chirps were calling for momma. No little ones hiding under the rocks, under the wood piles, or under the porch. Nowhere!!!

Momma cried, squawked, and looked with me. Finally… in the distance, we both heard a faint chirp. Momma flew and I ran down by the barn to find one lonely baby duckling hiding in the grass. He was frightened… cold… and lonely. He was the only survivor of the terror that fell over his siblings that preceding night. My heart was overcome with joy… and sadness… because for him it must have been a horrible… horrible sight…

The terror of predation-

“Lions, Tigers, and Bears… ?”

Ducks in any farm or backyard habitat are subject to predators. These could include dogs, cats, or raccoons (in urban areas), or additionally raccoons, skunks, foxes, owls, hawks, coyotes, fishers, weasels, or even bears in the rural and semi-rural areas. It is best to keep any small animal (including your dog or cat) in a secure area overnight.

An appropriate shelter for your feathery babies should include a solid floor. This should be lined with a bed of pine shavings or straw to catch duck poop and to help keep them warm at night. A flip-up lid or access to remove the bedding (or duck eggs) will help you to keep the coop clean and tidy. Additionally, a solid constructed box or house with a door that will allow them to go in and be secured is aimed at keeping the ducks in and the predators out. Lastly, since ducks generate a lot of heat, the coop should have a small vent window in order to prevent condensation from forming. This keeps the ducks warmer (or cooler) depending on the weather.

Duck Coops –

We have two types of duck coops on the Misfit Farm – A Single coop and A Partitioned coop.

The single coop is designed for a smaller number of ducks cohabiting in the same area. This coop is constructed of wood, contains a front door on hinges with a slide lock, and asphalt roof with gas-shock openers. Two Pekin ducks live in this coop – Daffy and his mate Quacker.

The partitioned coop was designed for a larger number of ducks and are separated into two coops within one box. Also constructed of wood, this coop incorporates a corrugated metal roof that flips up for cleaning, one large door with hook locks – one on each side, vent windows for each division, and a partition wall through the middle. This houses my remaining 13 ducks comfortably (5 Khaki Campbells, 4 Pekins, and 4 Rouen Ducks). They can choose which side they want to go in with help from 2 wooden barricades that make funneling them to bed easier.

However as you can see, Momma didn’t go to bed easily as she refused allowing her babies to stay in close quarters with the other ducks. This is because male ducks can kill baby ducklings who are competing for food and vying for mother duck attention. Without a separate duck coop for just Momma and her baby ducklings… her ducklings were safer from the other ducks outside the coop at night.

But her problems were much… much… greater.

We are not certain what animal may have snatched up the babies over night. There were no signs… no remnants of a fierce battle, no casualties left to allow us to piece the puzzle together. There wasn’t a feather, beak, or webbed-foot to be found. We found no signs of a bear and certainly a cat could not have gotten all of them and toted them off as a reward. An owl or a hawk couldn’t have picked them all up in their clutches and flown away. A skunk would have been too slow to catch them all and we don’t have coyotes, foxes, fishers, or weasels. So my only thought leads me to believe that the culprit were raccoons.

Raccoons will find baby ducklings an easy pick. While Momma duck is distracting the bandit-cladded predator away from her ducklings with her ‘come to me… I’m a wounded duck‘ display, the raccoons would not be buying it (much like the dog chasing a ball). The raccoons would proceed to pick up each duckling one by one to find their small size a good midnight snack for them and the rest of the bandit squad. This is why there were no signs of struggle and no battle signs remain. Oh the raccoon is a FIERCE and DEADLY foe!

Getting past the horror-

Spook was smart. His instinct told him that his mother’s squawking and display was due to eminent danger. His warning was… run and hide! So Spook ran as fast as he could across the front yard, driveway, and through a grassy patch to where he hid in the lumber piles just outside the barn door. He ran into the darkness and found shelter in a hole only big enough for his little body. Instinct told him to remain there and to be quiet until Momma called him out.

He stayed there for hours trying to stay warm and undetectable while the fate of his siblings was unknown. Did he hear their squawks? Were they crying for their momma as the raccoons were coming after them? Did he fear for his momma as she was trying to lure them away?

What a horrible night for Spook. When he finally heard his momma and I looking for him by the light of morning… he must have been extremely happy to see us. We found Spook in the grassy patch and Momma was happy to have just one. Momma knew but she wasn’t telling the story. She no longer looked for the others because she knew she had all of her babies back… all one… out of twelve!

I scooped Spook up without much hesitation from Momma. She was traumatized and she didn’t have enough energy to fight me. I wrapped him in a towel and brought him into the house. He crawled out of the towel and into my coat collar nestling comfortably within the fleece under my ear. He was breathing hard, he was cold, but he was finally safe. Momma duck got over it quickly and so too did the resilient Spook. He knows not to harbor his trauma. There is a new face that replaces his momma and he squawks loudly when I get too far away. Whenever I pick him up, he instantly nestles back into my collar occasionally popping his head out to see what I am watching on the TV. He is a week old now and over twice his original size. He’s an eating and pooping machine… happy and healthy.

Why ‘Spook’?

Spook is now a house duck living in my home on the Misfit Farm. Just like any other pet, he needed a name.

It was just a week before Halloween when he came into our lives and stole our hearts. The dark markings streaking across his little face appear like a Halloween mask on the face of a child. But this little one isn’t attending the “Trick or Treat” rituals of the day. He has had enough Halloween horror for this year.

His name needed to be reflective of the season and the appearance he made into our lives. Therefore the name ‘Spook’ was born and just like a child coming home with an overflowing basket of Halloween candy… Spook is sweet, spoiled, and living in his own Nirvana.

So please meet and say hello to Spook – the House Duck.

Feel free to follow along on the further Adventures of Spook the House Duck. We will be here and we are happy to share his new experiences, accomplishments, and quacky antics. Every day is a new adventure for him…his learning and his loving being a huge new part of our family.

Spook is our tiny little adventure in the tiny house as well…It’s about seeing his reactions, his mannerisms, and the funny ways he teaches us about why EVERYONE should love a duck. It’s also about giving him baths, a play area, his own little home, and integrating him into being accepted by the dog and cats. So stay tuned to see how we overcome these obstacles to make baby Spook warm, safe, and a happy little House Duck.

Spook is the lovable little duckling…that will steal your heart too.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Enjoy it simple,

With love from all of us here on the Misfit Farm…. especially Spook