14-year-old boy hatches duckling from supermarket egg

It was an unbelievable moment for a teenager when he was able to hatch a duckling from an egg bought from Waitrose.
William Atkins, 14, wanted to test if it is possible to hatch a supermarket egg under the right conditions and bought half a dozen duck eggs. He placed placed the £2.30 Gladys-May's Braddock Whites free range duck eggs under a £40 incubator bought from eBay in his bedroom. Three days later Atkins was surprised to see a beating heart when he flashed a torch on to the egg shells, according to reports in Daily Mail.
Finally, 28 days later a fluffy duckling was born. "The duckling is absolutely adorable and already making little quacking noises. I am amazed a supermarket egg has actually hatched. But also really excited," Atkins said, planning to call it Jeremy or Jemima once its sex has been determined.

"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," said Atkins, from Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.  

Revealing how he got the idea to hatch eggs, he said, "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."

Atkins lives with his twin sister Eleanor, brother Michael, 17, and parents David, 47, a financial adviser, and Stacey, 48, a sales co-ordinator. "I love anything to do with wildlife so no one took much notice when I started incubating the egg. They were stunned that I hatched one though - especially mum, who is not sure about me keeping a duckling in my bedroom," he said.

When the duckling grows a little larger, it will be sent to live at a nearby farm where there are rescue ducks and a pond. His father said, "I was amazed when I saw him carrying boxes of eggs into his bedroom. I confess I never thought he would actually produce a live duck. While an elated Atkins said, "It will live the happiest life there and I will be able to visit."

A spokesman for Clarence Court, which produces the eggs, said the odds of hatching a duckling were 'remarkably slim' but not impossible. "The separation of males from females relies wholly upon the skill of very few qualified people. Inevitably, the odd sexing error is