The Story of Sixto: Day Eleven

By Mummy
Sixto loves to drink so much that we have abandoned the specially purchased poultry water feeder in favour of this lovely butter dish (whoops, sorry Auntie Tessa, it just happened to be exactly his size)  As well as 'dabbling' (he has turned into a very noisy drinker since he discovered his bill was a sieve) it's just right size to hop in, if he should feel in the mood for a jacuzzi, like he did this morning.  In case you are thinking 'that duck needs more swimming space', be assured that he did have a swim in the bigger pool later today....

And whilst we are on the subject of eating and drinking (he fits into our family well on this point), just look how much poultry crumb Sixto has consumed since arriving with us 11 days ago; yes, that's the WHOLE jar full.

No wonder you're getting so tall Sixto! 

Apologies in advance Sixto if it turns out that you're a duck, rather than a drake. 

We've got into the habit of calling you 'he' (you're too much part of the family to be 'it'), but you could equally well be a 'she' - so a swift change of identity in 2-3 months time when the adult plumage arrives.....

The Story of Sixto: Day Nine

By Mummy

Yesterday we went to visit our lovely friends who we met in Lourdes. They live in Ipswich and it would have been too long to leave Sixto home alone all day; so we decided to take him with us. He seemed very happy in the van in his box, sitting between Port and Starboard. Of course his box was strapped in, just in case of any emergency breaking on the A12. 

He had a happy day listening to all the chat and lunch preparations from his vantage point (his box on the kitchen floor) and a few cuddles from some new friends too. We learned from our wildlife expert friend Jamie that ducks have glands on top of their tails which they dip into with their bills and spread waterproofing coating over their down. And we thought he was just a bit fastidious about his appearance with all that preening!  

By Sixto

They haven't told you about the enormous black dog that lives with us on Golden Mean. His name is Magic, and he might look really friendly ... but if you look at him through my eyes, wouldn't you keep your distance if you were a little duckling?

By Mummy

(Don't worry Sixto, we'll keep Magic at a respectable distance for a bit longer! He might not be able to distinguish between you and his squeaky toy pheasant that he loves to carry around in those big teeth of his...)

It was another sociable day and Sixto met Port and Starboard's friends from their DRFRC club. Apparently he is being made an honorary member. He was very chirpy as he had a big swim and learned how to dabble all the way to the bottom for food and he also had lots of cuddles today. This evening he has had a bit of a run around on the floor and chased my feet as I walked across the room (with Magic the Dog looking on from his bed)  Sixto's tail feathers are definitely getting a bit longer.

Who loves who the most?

The Story of Sixto: Day Five

23rd May 2014: Day Five

By Mummy

"So this is what my huge feet are for!"

Today Sixto had his first proper swim. That is, with his feet off the ground! In a tupperware box with a few interesting bits of grass and daisies to investigate, and Digby's fortress as an island and a log to climb on. He was more interested in the lichen at first! Earlier this morning he chased a fly around the cockpit floor! 

Six

The Story of Sixto: Day Three

21^st May, Day Three

By Daddy

Today we decided to take Sixto along to the Waveney Enterprises Fusion group, as we were concerned he would be lonely without us. He took to the car journey very well, his plastic box strapped in between the children, although was a bit concerned about being carried along the road. Celeste sat with him in the kitchen for the full session, he spent most of it asleep on her lap! When the session finished, the Waveney Enterprises crew all went to meet Sixto and were quite fascinated by him. We went on to our rehearsal at Ditchingham school and he stayed in the van for that one, his box covered up. He seemed happy enough when we returned. We also bought him a deeper box to live in (so he can’t jump out!) and some small poultry food and water feeders. In the evening he seemed far more settled and had a swim in the deep end of roller tray, he also settled in his box and dozed whilst we ate our supper.

I have written a song ..

We call him Sixto

Intro  A, E, D, E x 2

Verse 1

                        A                                  D                      A                      E

We were           sitting by the    river and we     looked over       there

C#m7               D                      Esus4 - E

Saw a little       duckling in        trouble

A                                  D                      C#                   F#m     Bm

Hilary grabbed the       net and             fished him        out

                        D                                  Esus4 – E          Esus4-E

He could’ve       drowned in that            puddle

Chorus

A                      D                      Esus4 - E

            We       call  him            Sixto                and

F#m7               D                      Esus4- E

Boy he makes a            fuss      he’s the

             A         D                                  E          F#m – F#m7

noisiest little creature that you             ever did see –

            D                      Esus4               A

I          wonder what he makes of          us?

We laid him on the table and we dried him in the sun

A tiny wet ball of fluff

He raised his head and he looked us in the eye, and said

‘I’m made of real strong stuff!’

Chorus

We call him Sixto and

Boy he makes a fuss

He’s the cutest little creature that you ever did see

And now he thinks he’s one of us!

The Story of Sixto: Day Two

20^th May, Day Two

By Digby

The duckling snuggled under the lion all night. Mummy gave it a new hot water bottle early in the morning. Today the duckling ate a lot more food. Mummy and I had gone to Beccles to buy some chick crumbs. (We also bought what we thought was a courgette plant... but it turned out to be a cucumber!)  We put some water in a paint roller tray so that the duckling could jump in and out when it wants to. It drank a lot of water and ate lots of food. We played with the duck on the floor upstairs in the cockpit a lot. Did you know that ducklings eyelids go up, instead of down and they have fur on the outside?

You can see that Sixto is looking a lot happier today.

By Mummy

Having the duckling on board, reminds me of when Digby and Celeste were tiny babies. The duckling squeaks when you put down, then as soon as you pick it up, it falls asleep immediately in your hands, lolling its head on one side. We decided to call the duckling ‘Sixto’ after Sixto Rodrigues the Mexican singer. Both of them were the ‘sixth’ one in the family! We looked up some duck facts on the internet and found out that we won’t be able to tell if Sixto is a duck (female) or drake (male) mallard until it is 3 – 4 months old and gets its full plumage.  We keep discussing whether we should get another duckling to keep it company when we are busy, but we don’t know if it would get on with another duckling or not. We have decided to wait until half term and see how it gets on. We all love the duckling, although it is a very big responsibility! 

The Story of Sixto: Day One

Hello! It's been a long time since we wrote on the blog... we are too busy having fun. But after a new addition to our family this week, we thought it was about time that we updated you! You will see that Port and Starboard (alias Digby 7 and Celeste 5) now have their own voices on the blog. We hope you enjoy our 'Story of Sixto' over the next few weeks.

19^th May 2014   Day One, by Celeste

It was Monday morning and Digby was sitting upstairs when he suddenly shouted “Look there are some ducklings!” We ran upstairs and saw a mother duck with six ducklings waddling along the shore. We watched as the mother duck jumped into the water and then she quacked at the ducklings to tell them to jump in too. We counted them as they jumped in.  “One, two, three, four, five, six little ducklings.” 

We gave the mother duck some bread and three male ducks came over.  Two swans came over too.  The bigger swan attacked the ducklings and the mother duck held onto the swan’s wing with her bill as the swan twirled around in the water. One of the ducklings went behind a boat, the mother duck followed. We got off our boat and went to the other side to have a look.

We noticed one of the ducklings was really wet, we thought it had gone under water. Ducklings down is not waterproof. While the mother duck was attacking the swan, the wet duckling had got separated from the others. It was drowning so Mummy fished it out with a net. She thought it was going to die. Daddy suggested drying it with a towel to get it warm.

 Then we made a brood box out of a toy box with newspaper and a hot water bottle. 
We decided to put a teddy lion in the brood box so the duckling would think it was it’s mother?! 
Mummy and I went to find the nest which was very near our boat - here it is: 

We got some of the nest so the duckling would think it was with its mother in the nest. 

Should we keep it until it was bigger?