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Never again will we get Anagrama and Lucy mixed up
We took Anagrama off to the vet this morning. As it happened, the boss vet was in the building, so he had a quick look and said he was pretty sure that the eye would need to be removed.
It turns out that this is quite a complex operation. Because bird's eyeballs are much bigger than the eye socket, they need to shave the bone away to make room to get it out. They charge accordingly: the quote was £600. The vet was also talking about problems with granulation tissue.
Given that I'm increasingly worried about the rest of the flock, who are still highly stressed and not eating properly, £600 seemed too much for something that would result in weeks more stress for them, so they took her downstairs and put her to sleep. (The vet seemed not at all surprised by our decision.)
The vet also suggested grapes for the rest of the flock, as a high-energy treat* that ducks generally love. We dutifully bought some, chopped them up, and added them to the bowl of corn that they have in the garden. The ducks ignored them entirely. The crows were delighted by the bowl of eyeballs we'd provided, and carefully fished each one out before realising it was less tasty than they'd anticipated and throwing it on the floor. Given that grapes are bad for dogs, we then scrabbled around in the fallen leaves to pick them all back up and put them back in the bowl: we'll see if the girls eat them overnight.
* The vet asked if there was anything we usually feed them as a treat, and I said not. In the car later, I realised that there is actually something, but I'm pretty sure that Tesco doesn't sell live snails.
It turns out that this is quite a complex operation. Because bird's eyeballs are much bigger than the eye socket, they need to shave the bone away to make room to get it out. They charge accordingly: the quote was £600. The vet was also talking about problems with granulation tissue.
Given that I'm increasingly worried about the rest of the flock, who are still highly stressed and not eating properly, £600 seemed too much for something that would result in weeks more stress for them, so they took her downstairs and put her to sleep. (The vet seemed not at all surprised by our decision.)
The vet also suggested grapes for the rest of the flock, as a high-energy treat* that ducks generally love. We dutifully bought some, chopped them up, and added them to the bowl of corn that they have in the garden. The ducks ignored them entirely. The crows were delighted by the bowl of eyeballs we'd provided, and carefully fished each one out before realising it was less tasty than they'd anticipated and throwing it on the floor. Given that grapes are bad for dogs, we then scrabbled around in the fallen leaves to pick them all back up and put them back in the bowl: we'll see if the girls eat them overnight.
* The vet asked if there was anything we usually feed them as a treat, and I said not. In the car later, I realised that there is actually something, but I'm pretty sure that Tesco doesn't sell live snails.
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On the subject of birds, I was watching the Seven Worlds documentary, where they had a bit about albatross chicks coping with storms. I rather lost sympathy when I learnt that if they fall out of the nest, the parents ignore them, even if they are inches away, until the chick climbs back in. Stupid things!
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My ducks are so-so on grapes and usually need lengthy coaxing — or witnessing the enthusiasm of someone else in the flock, especially in the form of someone they don't like experiencing joy — when it comes to new "treats".
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