When an opportunist fox struck at Farmer Palmer’s, four little eggs were left behind without a duck to hatch them.

Until, that is, a Silkie hen called Babs stepped in to keep them warm.

Now Lucky, the first duckling to hatch, is taking to life with her surrogate Mother Hen like... a duck to water.

Farm Director Sandra Palmer-Snellin said: “She’s been pretty lucky so far.

“Babs has been sitting really tight on the eggs, and that little duck will accept her as its mum from the off.

“But it still automatically knows it’s a duckling, and has been swimming in a little dish of water in the pen.

“It’s quite sweet that it wants to be sitting on the closest thing to a pond.

Special sensors surrounding the duck house enclosure automatically drop a door down to protect the animals at dusk, so staff think the fox struck before nightfall.

Sandra added: “We’ve checked and the system’s working perfectly well.

“We reckon we’ve got a fox with young living nearby, and it was desperate enough to come in before dark but after all the staff had gone.”

Babs and her adopted brood are now under a watchful eye in the well-protected animal barn.

“Cracks have started appearing in the other shells,” Sandra said. “That means inside they’re tapping away with their little milk tooth. We’ll have four beautiful little ducklings running around soon, all being well.”