The Day Chip came to stay

The day that Chip came to stay with us was a lovely day, a scary day, a happy day and an emotional day.

Little Chip is a duckling, a little tiny urban duckling who lives with his Mumma behind shops. Normally he is with his Mumma but on this particular day his Mumma decided for some reason to leave him. So there he sat on his own, in the cold all day and into the evening. Chip chipping away calling for his Mumma.

I am a bit soppy person with a big heart and a lot of love for fluffy things. I had two choices.

1. Leave it there in the hopes that it will make it through the night and that Mumma will come back
2. Take it home and see what happens.

I decided on option 2.

I know most of you reading this now and are tutting and mumbling that you should leave it to nature as it is a wild animal but I just couldn't do that. I mean just look at that little face. When I got home I called the RSPCA and sought their advice. Little Chip stayed in a box full of hay in our bedroom and he was as good as gold. He chipped for a bit until he settled and he was quiet all night until the alarm went off at 7.30 this morning.

As soon as the shops were open I drove into town and bought duck food I also checked to see if Mumma duck had come back and she had not. So we went home and got settled. It was a lovely day. We had snuggles where he curled up on me and went to sleep, he ate like a trooper, had a play and splash about in water (supervised), had a run and a play around the house and all was very lovely. In fact I was really getting used to the little one being around and following me everywhere. It was really very sweet.

The RSPCA gave me a call to see how we were getting on and said that I was to keep doing what I was doing and then when it got to about 4 weeks to call them to discuss either releasing it into the wild or to an animal sanctuary. I was happy with this. I have always wanted a duck! Just after lunch though I had a phone call, Mumma had returned to the scene and was sat looking depressed. What was I to do? Chip had clearly gotten attached to me and I to it. It was now my Baby. Of course I had to take away my emotional feelings and do what was right for little Chip and not for me. So I popped him in his box and drove back into town. As soon as I opened the door and Mumma could hear Chip she started quacking. They couldn't wait to be reunited. So reunited they were. They had a little play in the puddle and then they waddled off towards the road. This is where I couldn't bear to look anymore.

I just hope my little Chip and his Mumma are going to be OK.

And as for me. Well I now have empty nest syndrome! Whilst I have the menagerie of animals I am really missing that cute little ball of fluff but I also have deep in my heart the knowing that I kept it safe all night ready to return to Mumma the next day so I think I did the right thing even if other people have tut tutted at me!