Duckling Assisted Hatch SOS

[CourtCalee]

Hi All,

I have some Pekin/Mallard cross ducklings that i have been incubating. I am on Day 32 and while they were still alive I felt like I needed to investigate why they had not pipped internally. I have broken open the air cell only to find that they are ALL upside down (I now know this is due to them being on their side). The yolks are 100% not absorbed, what the heck do I do now? I rubbed bacitracin on the inner membrane to keep moist and looked for heads (without any luck) but otherwise I have no idea what Im doing!

 

[CourtCalee]

On the third egg I accidentally nicked the inner membrane (no blood vessel luckily) and now there is a clear fluid coming out as well!

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

If you haven't already seen it, this guide to assisted hatching by @Pyxis is incredibly helpful. I typically incubate waterfowl eggs on their sides and rarely have malpositions - is there a reason why you think this placement caused the malpositions?

If the yolks aren't absorbed, they're not ready. Keeping the membranes moist and allowing more time for them to absorb yolks and for blood vessels to dry up is needed. Fluid coming out of the egg could be a sign that humidity was too high during incubation - what % did you aim for?

Best of luck with your hatch!

 

[Mysticalsys]

Flip the egg with the fluid coming out in a way so it doesn’t

 

[CourtCalee]

Humidity was at 55-60% for most of incubation and then I raised it to 75% for lockdown. Sadly one ducky died, the other two (after multiple attempts and hours later) I finally found their heads and pulled them through the inner membrane, they are both pretty weak but I'm hopeful. I managed to do it with out disrupting the veins too much so now I will wait. I have them in cups with a wet paper towel in the bottom (in incubator of course) and did see that the yolk was starting to dwindle down this morning. Any other tips? Im just leaving them be currently, not sure what else I can do.