Our very own bred ducklings made there first appearance in Quackington Haven this weekend when they left the comfort of the house and heat lamp to join their compatriots in the nursery pen. (The new ones are the one looking to get in and the one with the strip on its face in the bath).

Why so tough? These littluns had a tricky start to life. As eggs they were placed under a broody Pekin, (who also gathered another 7 Pekin eggs underneath her un-be-knowing to us). Sadly, something currently unknown, got into the pen and killed the broody about half way through the sitting. We feared all was lost.

We had an old incubator a friend had given us, which we weren’t sure was even working and stuck all the eggs in it. It is supposed to be automatic, we tried it on a duck setting, but it just kept switching off. We put it on a chicken setting and it kind of worked a bit, although we had to keep resetting it. It did keep the eggs at a steady temperature, but the humidity was all over the place. Frankly we were not expecting anything to happen at all.

To our surprise, two ducklings and three Pekin eggs hatched and all are doing well. The are all just over a week old now.