Ducklings

Each year, we are lucky enough to be able to help a farmer by hatching some of his duck eggs for him. He gives us the eggs, and we incubate them. When the ducklings are about three weeks old, we take them back to the farm to live a very happy and free-range life.

The farmer has told us that his ducks are not brooding ducks, so they would not incubate their own eggs. As well, it is important that each year, the farm does not have too many new ducklings. We average about 4 or 5 ducklings each year, although this year, all 7 of the eggs we received were fertile and hatched!

The farm is a wonderful family farm set in a beautiful location. It is in Lower Shaw, Swindon, and is called Lower Shaw Farm.

Ms. Gediman has a lot of experience hatching and caring for ducklings. She teaches the students at TASIS all about how the eggs develop, how to care for the ducklings, and how each one has a unique personality. This education helps teach the students to think more about respecting wildlife, and how each animal in the world is unique and has feelings.

Ms. Gediman would never hatch the ducklings if she did not know that they would live a happy life on the farm. In one of the photos here, you can see the adult ducks coming to greet the ducklings the day they went to live on the farm. The ducks are allowed to roam on the farm during the day, but are put in a large protected area each night to stay safe from foxes.

The ducklings were a highlight for the three weeks they spent with us!