So this afternoon we said our goodbyes to the ducklings  They are going to live with Dave and his son James. James is at secondary school and already has mandarin ducks and chickens. Eventually, once they are old enough, our little pekin ducklings will be living free range on their land along with the other birds. Dave has promised to email Mrs Jessop with updates and pictures. The children have loved the experience of the ducklings and we have been happy to give the children this unforgettable opportunity 

The children were able to finally meet the ducklings properly now that they are all recovered from the hatching process. The children were all very sensible and knew that they had to be quiet and calm while the ducklings were out. The children thought it was hilarious that the ducklings kept pooping and then trying to eat it! The children were then able to stroke the ducklings if they chose to.

Sadly, one of the ducklings went to the great duck pond in the sky last night  We are not entirely sure what happened, but we think the rest of the ducklings sensed a weakness and had been acting differently towards him. Throughout the evening he had been pushed closer to the edge of the hotplate but was still under there when Mrs Swift went to bed. However, Mr Swift found him in the middle of the cage this morning and he was already gone. Although we are deeply sad this has happened, unfortunately it is nature and the same would happen in the wild. 

Before going to Mrs Swift's house to join the rest of his family in the brooding cage, Mrs Jessop's children were able to have a quick cuddle with the duckling.

Even Mrs Jessop's cat Rosie wanted to play! 

The fifth and final egg hatched this morning some time between 4 and 6.30am. 

The children have been mesmerized by the ducklings this afternoon.

We moved the newest ducklings into the brooding cage at lunchtime (while it was quiet). The four ducklings were very cute together!

We have another two ducklings hatched this morning. They are still very groggy and wet so will stay in the incubator until lunchtime when they can be moved into the brooding cage with the others.

And then there were 2! These ducklings have now been moved into the brooding cage.

We have our first duckling!

This little fella hatched out extremely quickly this morning taking us all by surprise! He will spend the night in the incubator until he has a friend who can join him in the brooding cage. If we put him in by himself he could get lonely so we have to wait until another egg hatches.

Exciting News!

The duck eggs arrived today!!! We have 5 eggs sitting comfortably in the incubator with one egg already starting to hatch. The children were very excited at our new arrivals. They were amazed when we told them that if they were quiet enough the can hear the ducklings chirping in their eggs (although we haven't been able to be quiet enough yet!! )