Building a disabled ramp

There are several things that I never thought I would hear myself say, however, when I asked my husband to build a disabled ramp for the duck, I knew I had hit a new level of insanity. It was actually my best friends idea to build Nellie (the cripple) her own ramp to get in and out of the pond, so I hold her responsible for planting that seed of insanity.

When we bought the ducks from the animal market, I used my expert duck buying skills and decided that yes they were in fact cute, yellow and ducks! OK, maybe there should have been more knowledge used, and we may not have a disabled duck. As the ducks were bundled into the box no one noticed that one of the duckings legs was bent at a funny angle.

We got home and opened the box and let the ducks out onto their new pond, and at this point I noticed that the little ducking had an odd bent leg. Off I went to my office to seek help and support from Google! who is god in our house, Google saves the day on many occasions alongside coffee! After much research it appeared that this bent leg was common in ducks, and we had three options...A) ignore it and let her cope, B) break the leg, splint it and hope or C) find her a nice plum sauce and some pancakes...

Nobody liked the idea of B or C, therefore A was chosen, and I even consulted with our vet who did suggest a fourth option and provided me with a nice recipe for orange sauce. So Nellie became our cripple duck, and she learnt to get around. However, as she begun to grow, I noticed that she was struggling to get into the pond, which was her safe haven.

In the pond she was like all the other ducks, and her disability was not evident, much to my husbands disappointment, as he wanted to see her swim around in circles! (you have to know him, to understand his sense of humour) Therefore, we had to find a way to get her in the pond easily, which is where the brain storm idea from my friend was suggested...a disabled ramp into the pond.

Nellie has her ramp, and uses it every day which is good, and although she is smaller than the other ducks, may never lay eggs for us, and is odd looking, she is part of the family. Also, she fits in well in this mad house we call home!