My girl Lumi is a mama! (“Lumi” is a Scandinavian word for “snow”). Miss Lumi is only 8 months old now but back at the end of October she and her sister decided to set a couple of nests. I figured that they'd give up before the required 35 days and I'd planned to gather the abandoned embryos for my incubator... if I got to them in time. Halfway through, her sister decided she'd rather be playing outside, but Lumi stuck to it (she even rolled her sisters eggs over into her own nest!) and on December 1st she hatched out 13 little babies.
I knew it was gonna be cold when those tiny ducklings hatched out so I was hoping that mom would keep them inside where they had lots of room to run around but temps were slightly more reasonable. Everyone is doing great, mama Lumi takes her fuzzballs out for a walk about every other day. But the babies are still unable to climb the long ramp back up to the Muscovy Loft so I usually have to gather them all in a bucket before it gets dark and plop them back inside under the heat lamp. After spending the entire day trekking all over the barnyard in 40 degree temps, the kiddo’s are pretty pooped and make a big puppy pile under the lamp - totally crashed out.
Here are some pictures of their outing on day 2:
When the babies can't make it all the way up the ramp into the Muscovy Loft, Mama Lumi frets back an forth up and down the ramp to show them how, then gives up and gathers them under her to keep them warm until help arrives. She doesn't like me to pick up the babies but everyone is happier when they're back inside after a long day in the cold!
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Here's a little video of them exploring the barnyard:
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