Brood

Trout has done very well this year and hatched out most of the eggs she has been sitting on for the past 4 weeks or so. She is being very protective of them and wont let us too close. She's lost a fair bit of weight whilst brooding but still looks great.

Yesterday we thought she had 15 but tonight we've counted 14 for definite. It is very difficult to count such a mass of fluffyness. Of course we may have been right and some predator may have nabbed one of them. A lot tougher for these little ones outside than it is for the softies inside.

Speaking of which, our last little egg in the incubator hatched out today. It looks so tiny next to the other 5. We've got it separated from them at the moment as, although they don't mean it any harm they do tend to get a wee bit boisterous.

As it was born of Friday the 13th, we decided it needed all the help it could get and called it Lucky.


......EDIT .......

Sorry, folks (especially you Red, you better get the hanky out) afraid Lucky didn't survive the night. He didn't look very strong when he hatched in the morning and by the time we went to bed he wasn't up on his feet yet. All of the others have been up on their feet and jumping around within a few hours so we weren't very hopeful. I don't think I'll call anything Lucky again somehow.