Archived News

3rd July 2011

Having borrowed an incubator a couple of months ago, we tried to hatch out some Silver Appleyard duck eggs, but were unsuccessful the first time around.

It was worth another try, so Christopher and I carefully placed four more eggs in the incubator which turns fractionally every few minutes. We had little to do for 25 days; other than check the temperature and top up the water reservoir for humidity.

Last Thursday I switched off the rotating cradle and could only hope that three days later a duckling might actually hatch.

Yes, this is a real duckling next to a stuffed bear!

To my amazement last night, I heard some chirping and could see an outward crack in the top of one of the eggs.  I can’t tell you how excited the household became!!  By lunchtime today the duckling had emerged from its shell and began to dry in the warmth and security of the incubator.

We’ve set up the brooding box and heat lamp in the spare room for now, to keep this little duckling away from the risks of vermin in the barns.

There’s much talk of names; the Financial Times is lining the bottom of the brooding box so Edward suggested ‘Footsie’ as a play on words and the duckling of course has pretty big feet. Or if it happens to be female, maybe we’ll follow the headline in the same paper ‘Daisy sets sights on organic growth'.  Or  maybe it’s ‘Beaky’, we shall see!