Supermarket shopper hatches duckling from egg she bought in Morrisons and is now bringing it up as a pet
- Adele Phillips, 28, from Port Talbot, Wales, saw how to hatch on social media
- She has named the baby bird ‘Little Morris’ after his breed – Braddock Morris
- The firefighter bought a second duck named ‘Beryl’ to keep him company
A female firefighter was left stunned after she hatched a duckling from an egg – and is now keeping it as a pet.
Adele Phillips, 28, picked up a pack of free-range Clarence Court duck eggs whilst helping her mother with the weekly shop in a Morrisons in Port Talbot, Wales.
After watching a post on social media about ‘incubation’, she kept the eggs warm all the way home before putting them in an airing cupboard.
Ms Phillips, discovered one was fertile by shining a torch on them to see veins inside, so she excitedly ordered an incubator online.
When it arrived days later, she placed it in the cupboard beside the eggs and turned it three to four times daily, to ensure it was consistently at the correct temperature.
Adele Phillips, 28, from Port Talbot, Wales, hatched the duckling after seeing how to do it on tiktok
One month later, she was thrilled when one hatched into a perfectly healthy baby duckling.
She initially planned to give him away – but said her ‘heart melted’ so much when he was born that she is now determined to keep him and has even bought a second duck.
She said: ‘During the whole process everyone was looking at me, thinking ‘are you insane?’
‘I was just giving it a go as a little experiment, but they all thought I would just end up with a boiled egg.
‘Well I definitely proved them wrong and everyone was very shocked.
‘I am amazed and it really hit me when I saw it come out of its shell. I thought ‘what have I done? It is just mad. My pet could easily have been on someone’s toast.’
Ms Phillips has named the duckling ‘Little Morris’ after his breed – Braddock Morris. She now plans on buying him a garden pond and enclosure
She added: ‘I saw someone doing a challenge on tiktok and thought I would give it a go.
‘When we bought the egg my mum was just like ‘are you sure?’ I knew I had to keep them warm on the way home although as they had already been on a shelf for a few days I didn’t think it was going to work.
‘They then went into the airing cupboard but as I had never done anything like this before I was so shocked when I discovered one was fertile.’
She continued: ‘I knew a couple of days before it was going to hatch but you are told to leave it alone.
‘I was worried and looked through the hole but didn’t touch it. I was worried it would die or come out deformed but he was 100 per cent healthy.
‘I did it all from just looking online to see what to do.
‘It is now one week old and is in a box with a heat lamp, they need a lot of heat when they are babies. It has swim time in the evening when I put it in water and I give it food like strawberries and spinach.
‘You are also told to feed them scrambled eggs which I found a bit weird.
‘I was going to give them to a farm but I decided I wanted to keep him. I feel for him pretty quick.
‘I am a bit sceptical now about eating any eggs. I will be thinking of mine every time I make scrambled eggs thinking that could have been my one.’
She now plans to buy Little Morris and his new friend Beryl a garden pond with a small enclosure.
She said: ‘I have also bought him a buddy from a pet shop called Beryl so he doesn’t get depressed being alone.
‘I did not really plan this – but now I have two and I wouldn’t swap them for the world, certainly not for any fried egg on toast.
‘I now can’t walk past the egg aisle in any shop without wanting to get more.’
Ms Phillips added that she will resist the urge to hatch more ducklings.