Carrie Johnson ‘very sad’ as Donny the duckling dies

Carrie Johnson has shared her family’s heartbreak as one of their three hand-reared ducklings passed away on Tuesday.

The mother of three announced the death of Donny the duckling on social media, having documented the animal’s growth since it hatched at their Oxfordshire home last week.

Mrs Johnson, 36, said she had “tried everything” to revive the bird, which was one of three that she had been raising, but attempts to feed it sugar water, a boiled egg, peas and yoghurt proved unsuccessful.

She posted a photo of the duckling to her Instagram story, writing: “Don didn’t make it.

“We all really knew from the moment he was born that he wasn’t right but I still feel very sad about it. Nature is cruel. RIP Darling Donny.”

Mrs Johnson has been documenting the three young ducklings’ progress to her 90,000 Instagram followers since they hatched last week.

She had asked them to “pray for Donny” four days earlier as the duckling continued “plodding on”.

The communications expert had been paying special attention to Donny, the runt of the litter, keeping it warm in her hands and leaving it in the care of her husband, former prime minister Boris Johnson, when she took the children to Legoland.

But despite her best efforts the little bird did not make it.

A day before the announcement, she revealed that Mr Johnson did not “think he’d last the night” as Donny appeared significantly smaller than his two siblings, Daff and Wally.

She shared footage of the three ducklings pecking around their indoor cage in the family’s home the same day.

Mrs Johnson described the experience of hand-rearing the ducklings as “exhausting” but recalled in earlier social media updates the joy of “seeing how much [her] children love animals”.

The couple share three children, namely Wilfred, 3, Romy, 2, and 9-month-old Frank.