Lucky duck sticks close to owner!

A CALL Duck, hatched from a cracked egg glued together with nail polish, has become stuck on it’s owner.

Down on his luck since his female partner died three months ago, Crackie the tiny Mallard duck, owned by the Bratton family from Drumahoe, fixed his attentions on Alan Bratton, and now follows him everywhere - even up and down the garden as Alan mows the lawn.

Crackie got his name after he hatched from one of six Call Duck eggs bought off an Internet site by Alan’s 21-year-old son, Robert, who is animal-mad.

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“I was always fascinated by anything to do with animals and with incubation. I bought the eggs on eBay and I thought I would incubate them and see if anything happened. Two hatched. It just so happened that one was male and one was female, and I called the male Crackie because when the egg came here it was cracked and I stuck the shell together with nail polish.”

Sadly, Crackie’s has been in a bit of a flap on his own, but Robert and his dad Alan have hatched a plan to get him a new companion which should help sooth his feathers.

In the meantime, the little man’s constant waddling after Alan is proving a bit hit with the neighbours and passersby, who are transfixed by the sight.

“When Robert bought the eggs we thought it was just another of his mad notions. He has appeared here with chickens, roosters, cats, you name it. Robert is a magnet for animals. If he had his way he would have a huge menagerie of animals around him,” said Alan.

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Loyal to the last, Crackie even sits in Alan’s office, watching him work, and tries to help him with every task, from typing to gardening.

“Whatever I do it does. People get a shock when they call at my workshop and see the duck sitting at the door or in the workshop. It is only since he lost his partner that he has done this, so maybe it is a comfort thing. For me it is like having a dog with wings,” Alan says, adding: “There was one man who called here one day and said ‘Do you know you have a duck sitting at your front door?’ He is just like a a little puppy. If he hears my voice at all he just wants to be near me and he follows me everywhere. If I go out to the office to work he follows me up the stairs into the office, if I go out to try and work on my motorcycle he is there pecking at everything like he is trying to help. One day he even got into the kitchen and I found him warming himself by the Aga. He is a loveable wee thing, but we will try and get him a friend.”

l See Crackie in action, following Alan as he mows the lawn, on the Sentinel website at www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk/

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