William Atkins, 14, from Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, hatched a duckling from a Waitrose egg. He was stunned when after shining a torch on to the shells, he saw a beating heart
As duck tales go, it’s one that would surprise Beatrix Potter or Hans Christian Andersen. A teenager has hatched a duckling from a Waitrose egg.
William Atkins, 14, decided to test a claim that it is possible to hatch a supermarket egg under the right conditions.
And 28 days after buying half a dozen duck eggs, he was rewarded with the birth of a fluffy duckling.
Cradling the week-old chick, which will be called Jeremy or Jemima once its sex has been determined, William said: ‘The duckling is absolutely adorable and already making little quacking noises. I am amazed a supermarket egg has actually hatched. But also really excited.’
The schoolboy from Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, bought the £2.30 Gladys-May’s Braddock Whites free range duck eggs and placed them under a £40 incubator bought from eBay in his bedroom.
Three days later he was stunned when after shining a torch on to the shells, he saw a beating heart.
Almost a month after buying half a dozen duck eggs, he was rewarded with the birth of a fluffy duckling. When it grows a little larger, the duckling will go to live at a nearby farm where there are rescue ducks and a pond
He said: ‘From then on the unborn duckling grew bigger inside the shell every day. Just over three weeks later the egg began rocking and a few days after that the tiny duckling pecked its way out.
‘I got the idea after a family discussion about whether it would be possible to hatch a supermarket egg as they are not supposed to be fertilised,’ said
