Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

The first photo shows Apple's SIXTH duckling. You may recall back on 16th we mentioned we had popped Apple's 'abandoned' eggs in the incubator and two were still unhatched. Well, one pipped and after a lengthy wait (well over a day) during which nothing more happened, we took the decision to help the duckling out of its shell. This is always a tough decision to make: some breeders NEVER help birds out of their shells as they believe if a chick/duckling cannot get out on its own it must be ill or too weak and therefore may not be healthy enough to survive anyway. Our view is that when hatching in an incubator, some things may go wrong that might not have gone wrong if the eggs were under a broody and so if we can help we will. On this occasion, we got it right and after a shaky start this little chap is now running around with its siblings and mum and looking really healthy. We put it under Apple the night of the 17th but could see the following morning it was not strong enough to keep up with the others. A heat lamp was sorted and after a few hours we were amazed at how much it was zooming around the cage. We carried it back to Apple who very quickly accepted she now had six, not five ducklings!!
Pear's brood of 15 are now very independent and each morning take themselves off to the pond for a swim. Despite still having quite downy feathers, the natural waterproofing oils are beginning to work: can you see the droplets of water on the duckling's back? Pear has started to sleep back in the main poultry area, leaving her ducklings to snuggle up with each other in the barn at night, and even during the day she is not always with them now. At just four weeks they are now expected to look after themselves! We wonder how long they would last in the wild??