Henlings

The henlings are here!

You may remember I told you about my musical incubator a few weeks ago. At the time it didn’t seem to be working properly, so we put the abandoned duck eggs under a real live incubator instead – Grey Chicken.

Popping into the wood shed today for some kindling, since it’s turned so cold and raw here we we need the fire again, I noticed GC wasn’t in her usual spot but was on the ground. Then I saw two tiny fluffy bundles behind her. In the previous few hours, the henlings had hatched.

I started getting the piglet creep ready to move them into, but then reconsidered. If I did put them there, they wouldn’t be able to get out on their own, although GC would, as the sides are too high, and there’s a danger they might find a small hole to wriggle through into the pig maternity suite, currently occupied by Rosie in her last stages of pregnancy. It’s extremely likely Rosie would happily chobble up two teeny ducklings without a second thought. We’ve seen the pigs eat mice that they’ve caught, although it’s fair to say they’ve never bothered the adult chickens that potter in and out of their field. However, it seemed rather risky, especially as Rosie is currently eating for at least a dozen. Also, the henlings have a warm feathery foster mum to snuggle up to and so don’t need the infrared light to keep them toasty.

We’ll keep mum and babies supplied with food and water and hope that they’ll grow up healthy and safe.

If you should ever find yourself having to foster ducklings, then there’s a very informative website here about how to raise them.