This morning my wishes have come true, a beautiful pure gold duckling appeared from one of the saved eggs. I Knew that the mother was carrying Blondie's DNA, and her offspring might produce a white duckling. When first hatched these ducklings are pure gold but turn white by 6 weeks old.
Yesterdays first hatched duckling was stealthily introduced to the mother in the Aviary last night as she settled down for the night.
After a talk with Sue our Avian adviser, who suggested I should do this after dark since the mother was unlikely to move or reject the new addition.
It worked perfectly and this morning all 12 ducklings were happily feeding together. I did think of introducing more tonight, but may have to cancel the idea now that we have a white one !! It looks like I will have to play mum to the remaining hatched ducklings for the next 2 months, some of which have still to appear. Blondie may have been killed last week, but her beauty lives on !!
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