Need Muscovy Hatching Advice--FAST

linen53 said:

I incubated about 16 Muscovy eggs until the last week of incubation and then put the eggs under 3 established broody moms (also Muscovy) the last week. Today is day 37. Two hatched out today. One lived, one died because the mother didn't take care of it. Normal behavior for a young mother.

I just got done candling all the remaining eggs. 4 have internally pipped, 4 have externally pipped. One I assisted and glad I did. The membrane was starting to dry and wrap around the duckling. Don't know if he'll make it but I can't bother his mom anymore.

One mom has 3 that have externally pipped and I'm keeping a close watch on them. The rest all look like they didn't make it.

My question: If the ducklings are not out by this afternoon should I assist? Like I said, today is day 37.

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linen53 said:

Thank you Miss Lydia. I assisted and glad I did. None are very strong but none would have made it out. Of the 4 that I assisted. 3 belong to one mom. I opened their shells enough that they could slip out with little effort. One peeped. The others weren't strong enough. I won't know if they made it until tomorrow. I'm not going to bother the mom anymore than I already have.

Of the other mom she already has one hatched and doing well and the one I assisted didn't make it. He had internally pipped but then died sometime before I assisted. Probably suffocated. So out of the 16 I got 4. Not good odds.

I think next time I will hatch in the incubator and THEN give the ducklings to the moms. I just thought the way I did it this time was more natural. I learned a hard lesson.

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linen53 said:

Thank you Miss Lydia. I assisted and glad I did. None are very strong but none would have made it out. Of the 4 that I assisted. 3 belong to one mom. I opened their shells enough that they could slip out with little effort. One peeped. The others weren't strong enough. I won't know if they made it until tomorrow. I'm not going to bother the mom anymore than I already have.

Of the other mom she already has one hatched and doing well and the one I assisted didn't make it. He had internally pipped but then died sometime before I assisted. Probably suffocated. So out of the 16 I got 4. Not good odds.

I think next time I will hatch in the incubator and THEN give the ducklings to the moms. I just thought the way I did it this time was more natural. I learned a hard lesson.

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linen53 said:

jdywntr, 12 of those eggs were shipped eggs that I bought off of eBay. They were French Whites. And 4 were home grown. I didn't have a broody hen when I got the eggs so I started them in the incubator and since one of my blues had been laying and I had space in the incubator for 4 more I included them. The moms are very accepting of any orphans, egg or duckling. The one who survived, I found this morning out from under under its foster mom. It was very cold and I wasn't sure I could save it. I got it out of the shell and held it under the brooding lamp until it was warm enough and then stuck it under a different mom who was also due today to hatch some of the same egg batch. It ended up being her only surviving duckling and she is a doting mom.

Sometimes young moms get confused when their precious eggs start to crack open and they take them far away from their nest. Usually when a few more crack open their instincts kick in and they do fine. But she was only incubating 4 eggs and two were already dead when I candled them this morning. So now I've given her another egg from another mom that is due to hatch in another week. I'll have to watch her closely when the due date gets close so she doesn't lose another one.

The other girl who is setting has three of the ones that I assisted this afternoon. I have only had this mom since last winter so I'm not sure how good of a mom she will be. The bruises and scratches on my arms and hands from messing with her eggs tell me she will do just fine. She is very accepting of the babies once I assisted. I just need to stay away for now and leave nature to itself. If they survive I will be happy. 2 are French White and one is a blue from one of my other ducks.

Thanks again Miss Lydia. I have read that same article back just before I got my shipped eggs and found it to be very helpful. I hatched over 120 baby ducklings (well, me and my momma ducks) last year but the weather was much warmer than it is this year at the same time. We just had a snow storm come through a couple of days ago. I hope it is the last one!

I think there was a combination of problems with this hatch. Number 1 is it has been consistently cold. Number 2 I took the eggs out of the incubators a week before hatch and placed them under broody moms. I think I should have hatched them in the incubator and then put them under the moms. And number 3 is the hatch rate is never good on shipped eggs.

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