duckling hatching in my bra but need urgently as hatching

[dubaiducks]

Hi - I have a duck that hatched 6 chicks but left two unhatched. I think its because we disturbed her. The chicks hatched 2 days ago. This one egg I noticed pipping but I left it in the cage I made for mamma duck and duckings. A day later and she ignores it. I noticed antoher that is pipping. They have been in my bra for a couple of hours. As I sat here reading what to do, I suddenly heard it cheeping. I kid you not. the egg is still sealed. Now a big panic - do I help it out or what ? Horrified that it might die in there because its so late.
I know that when it hatches, it needs to see mama duck and not me.
Please help !!!

 

[drumstick diva]

I wouldn't worry who it bonds with right now. I would worry about it safely hatching. I'm not sure it can do that in a bra. Can you scramble to fashion a makeshift incubator.?

It wouldn't have to be big, put it in the warmest room in your home. Do you have something to use as a safe, heat lamp? Don't go helping it unnecessarily. If temps were too low, it slows the hatching process. Maybe the duck mama got preoccupied with her first babies and neglected the last eggs - broody chickens often do that too.

When they hatch, I don't think mama will accept them so I would NOT try to put them with her - she will see them as strangers. If you have time post on the duck threads at "Other Backyard Poultry," I don't know how much humidity and heat - ducklings need at hatch.

 

[the1913trio]

The whole "imprinting" with ducklings is more of "window"....and after having hatched many a duckling in an incubator that saw me first for several hours while I interacted with it and cared for it, went in a brooder in the garage overnight so I could sleep without all that darn peeping, then acted utterly terrified of me when I brought the brooder back in the house the next day I began to research the whole issue of how ducklings imprint, Turns out they imprint in roughly the first three days-ish. Supposedly the imprinting drive is strongest when the duckling is between 12hrs to 48hrs of age, but I don't know that that follows through as it seems like being around them a decent amount for the first week still works as good. Another thing to note is that these ducklings don't imprint on one thing only. They tend to imprint on each other, their "mom" figure, AND their brooder all together. So if any one of these components they are used to are missing they will freak out more or less depending upon their individual personalities.

What I am saying is that these ducklings will be just fine seeing you and each other first. Then you make sure they are dry and fluffed up and have had their beaks dipped in their water source and they know where food is. Once that is complete, stick them with mom and I highly doubt the mom duck will notice as ducks I have had really aren't the brightest crayons in the box usually. The babies won't be totally imprinted on you and they will probably just be buddies with you, mom, and the other siblings. If mom still rejects them anyways, then you are stuck brooding them yourself.

Since you don't have an incubator for them to hatch and fluff out in you can use some light bulbs instead. We had situations where we had straggler babies hatching that were squacking up a storm so loud we couldn't find anywhere to put the bator in the house where we wouldn't hear them even with box fans on for white noise. In our experience these way behind "stragglers" never were able to hatch on their own, and when we would help them hatch we typically seriously regretted doing so as the birds nearly ALWAYS had some sort of deformity and/or major issue with eating and/or a major temperament issue and we had to cull them anyways. So since we didn't have much faith in the screaming stragglers hatching we put them in the brooder under the light at 95 to 100 degrees, with a bowl of wet paper towels near where they were to bump up the humidity so they wouldn't shrink wrap and we used thermometer/hygrometer to measure these values in the brooder. They hatched just fine over night and fluffed out successfully in the brooder instead of in the incubator.

If you do not have a brooder light, then you can improvise overnight till the stores open with an incandescent bulb that is 45 to 75 watts (depending on what yah have laying around). The key thing is that the lower the wattage of the bulb and the colder the room temp is the closer the bulb will need to be to the eggs to make them 95 to 100 degrees. Put them in some form of a brooder which for hatching could be a plastic tub, a cardboard box, heck...even a shoebox. I have also used heating pads before in emergencies to keep babies warm in the absence of a brooder light/mom. Just be careful you don't start a fire with the light bulb or heating pad and that the temp is about 95-100 degrees, the babies have some blankies to snuggle under/into as they dry off, and there aren't any bad drafts esp while they are wet and still fluffing out.

*****Oh, and often mamma does leave the last couple stragglers behind if they are too far off from when the majority of the babies hatched as she instinctively knows that often the ones that don't hatch in time may never hatch on their own as they are deformed or have some other issue not compatible with thriving and surviving...so don't be surprised if there is something wrong with the ones left in their eggs even if they peep as though they are healthy and well...

If the babies end up "shrink wrapped" due to lower than ideal hatching humidity since you need to make an impromptu brooder/bator for hatching check out the complete info on this site that is AWESOME a gal did about "how to assist with hatching"...it will tell you in detail everything to do. Try to keep the humidity up as much as you can in your impromptu brooder/bator, adding the plastic bowls with soaking paper towels under light near the eggs helps as does covering the eggs with a layer of paper towels/cloths, and dabbing some damp, warm water on the membranes if exposed or lightly spritzing the egg since this is a duckling especially (they need higher humidity at hatch than baby chickens and quail I have noticed).

Hope this helps and let us know how it goes!!

 

[dubaiducks]

our daytime temperature at the moment is 95 farenheit anyway. Its weird how the eggs can have been left cold in the nest and they are still fine.
Whats even stranger is how the eggs are in the side top of my bra and every now I hear a chirp.
I have made a tiny hole in the top of one but membrane is intact. Have moistened top/hole.
I will try and make a box for them with damp towel in bottom and keep on window ledge and hope for the best.
This is the first time on of our ducks in 7 years of keeping ducks, has actually brooded out a clutch. So we are all amazed. She is an amazing mum. We have separated her and chicks from the others by putting a wire cage over her as the others are threatening the chicks and now her.
the other problem is that our 4 cats are interested...... infact that's how I knew there were chicks. I looked out into the garden and saw one charging along followed by a curious cat.
all safe now.

 

[dubaiducks]

thanks, looks clear to follow - will do my best.

 

[the1913trio]

Wow, that is great that the daytime temps are around 95 degrees anyways! That makes life a whole lot easier. I agree with you when you said you were surprised the babies survived the whole night in the cold, because everything you are taught says the babies are super fragile. Yet they often survive things that are pretty harsh just fine, and so as time has gone on I have gotten less nervous about hatching out new babies.

I have heard that some people have success with sneaking extra new babies under a mom chicken overnight since she is asleep when the new babies are slipped in and she wakes up the next day and accepts them whereas if they were introduced in the daytime when she can see they came from somewhere else the mom wouldn't have accepted the babies as readily. I have also heard of moms that don't mind taking any babies, even obvious outsiders of another species, and ones that are sticklers and notice if a new recruit is placed in the group of babies no matter how it is done. Too bad ducks don't sleep all night like chickens. Maybe you could sneak the new ones in when mom naps with the others and then see how it goes? I suppose it will depend on her unique personality.

VERY smart of you to separate mom and babies. I hear lots of stories of babies being gobbled up by other flock members esp when new and little!

The cats are thinking, "Yum!! delicious duckling dumplings, meow!" lol.

 

[drumstick diva]

I also hear many sad tales of house pets - dogs and cats, devouring the babies because the owners think 'it's cute that they are so interested'. Everything loves(to eat) chicken


Please update so we know how it all turns out.

 

[dubaiducks]

Well I read the very good guide on assisted hatching and decided that it they had been pipping for more than 24 hours, chirping heard from inside, and also on candeling, I can see that the beak is through to the airsack. So on one of the eggs, made a hole carefully and its right where the beak is. It is chirpy and it drank a drop of water I put to its beak. I don't see how it will ever break through the egg shell as our duck eggs have such a thick strong shell. However I have put it in a warm place with a damp towel on the end that's open but with air to breathe.
The other egg.. I thought I could see a shape in the airsack on candeling, but when I made a hole, the inner membrane is intact. I cannot see a beak shape specifically, so I am thinking it might be the wrong way around in the egg. There is one big vein I can see. So have decided to put it also in the warm place with the damp towel over the end so it does not dry out.
Hope have done the right thing so far. I am going to play the patience thing, except that I am checking now and then to make sure they are moist and the membrane of both are not drying hard.
Expecting that they may not be perfect ducklings so anything is a bonus.
I just wonder how long to wait. I thought 6 to 8 hours at least before I do anything.

 

[nj2wv]

Welcome to BYC !!

 

[dubaiducks]

Thanks ! Been coming across this site for a while now as have chickens too..