June Hatch A Long

[LilyD]

ok, i'm trying one more thread. they say third time is a charm. I assisted a welsh harlequin duck egg that had pipped, but not made progress in at least a day. after starting, i caused some bleeding and stopped. continued a few hours later, and stopped again when i saw more blood. the result is a baby whose face is out and body still in shell. Sheldon has been that way for two days now, in the incubator. I have the humidity at 55-60%. higher than that, it steams up and causes extreme temperature spikes. I didn't want to ever use this incubator again, but had a broody give up right before hatching day, so I candled and transferred eggs that looked viable into the incubator. so here we are now, with a half hatched baby.

You need to use coconut oil or olive oil very sparingly with a qtip on the outside of the membrane as you slowly work the shell back. You should be able to see veins in the membrane and if you do you need to wait until they go away. The baby will be very tired and will make chewing or licking motions like it's eating something while in the egg and this means it's still absorbing the blood vessels and yolk sac from inside the egg. Once it's done that it will start chirping like mad and will act like it's trying to stab at the air where the shell would have been with it's beak. That's when to try slowly taking the egg shell back to see if you can free the baby up completely. If you hit any blood apply pressure for about a count of 10 and then put back in the incubator to rest for an hour or so. Take it very slow and give the baby breaks in between.

 

[LilyD]

Okay guys ready for the next bunch eggs are resting after transport I have a dozen Lone Star Crele and a dozen English Crele Orpington eggs that I can set tomorrow night. This weekend I can get another 18 Muscovy eggs and they can all start out incubated together. It will be dry this time and we will see how it goes. Going to try and map out zones for temps in the incubator before I load it. Fingers crossed.

 

[Milkywayranchsc]

You need to use coconut oil or olive oil very sparingly with a qtip on the outside of the membrane as you slowly work the shell back. You should be able to see veins in the membrane and if you do you need to wait until they go away. The baby will be very tired and will make chewing or licking motions like it's eating something while in the egg and this means it's still absorbing the blood vessels and yolk sac from inside the egg. Once it's done that it will start chirping like mad and will act like it's trying to stab at the air where the shell would have been with it's beak. That's when to try slowly taking the egg shell back to see if you can free the baby up completely. If you hit any blood apply pressure for about a count of 10 and then put back in the incubator to rest for an hour or so. Take it very slow and give the baby breaks in between.

thank you Lily. about how much longer do you expect it will be? baby has been sleepily yawning and chewing in a half shell for over two days now. is that within normal range?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

thank you Lily. about how much longer do you expect it will be? baby has been sleepily yawning and chewing in a half shell for over two days now. is that within normal range?

2 to sometimes even 3 days isn't uncommon for ducks. I was lucky enough to get to watch LilyD expertly assist her ducklings through her most recent hatch that she made available to us through live feed. It felt like it took FOREVER but remember that as long as they're breathing they should be just fine and it's more important that they are given enough time to absorb the yolk sac.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

thank you Lily. about how much longer do you expect it will be? baby has been sleepily yawning and chewing in a half shell for over two days now. is that within normal range?

Do you still see veins like LilyD suggested looking for?

 

[jolenesdad]

2 to sometimes even 3 days isn't uncommon for ducks. I was lucky enough to get to watch LilyD expertly assist her ducklings through her most recent hatch that she made available to us through live feed. It felt like it took FOREVER but remember that as long as they're breathing they should be just fine and it's more important that they are given enough time to absorb the yolk sac.

that’s because it DID TAKE FOREVER!!!!

Yes @LilyD just went through this for all of us to see. It was amazing.

All I can say is keep waiting and wait some more. I would have ripped those babies out of the shell fifteen times by the time they were ready to come out for her.

They’re doing their thing, be patient. Can you see the yolk?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

thank you Lily. about how much longer do you expect it will be? baby has been sleepily yawning and chewing in a half shell for over two days now. is that within normal range?

Last year, we hatched chicks and then ducks. I posted on it because I was so surprised how long they took to hatch! I asked for help on BYC and some said to intervene, some said leave them alone... this was my summary:

For anyone following this thread: we had five domestic mallards and 9 Welsh Harlequin in the incubator (actually 10 WH, but one is five days behind the rest because I cleaned/dipped the eggs and left one sitting in a box at room temperature for five days!). Mallards and WH were set at the same time, but mallards pipped one day before the WH, starting day 25. Both duck breeds had external pips of all eggs for 36-60 hours before hatching. Several WH had partially zipped also for 24 hr before hatch. Other than the enlargement of pip holes that I made in mallards at about 48 hr after pipping, there was no assistance with hatch. All mallards hatched on days 27-28 and all WH hatched day 28. All ducklings appear robust and healthy. In addition to learning that ducks can sit pipped for a long time and still hatch normally, I also found that percent water loss was not as important as I had expected. Mallards lost greater than desired (14%) egg weight and WH lost less, but all are healthy. I did mist or cool eggs every day after day 5 of incubation, except stopped on Day 21 for mallards. Thanks again for your help!

 

[AquaDuck]

What DO you all do with so many chicks? Are you selling them on a regular basis? We have a poultry swap here, and there are regulars who sell big batches chicks every month.
I have a buyer lined up for my 4 chicks. I don't want to increase the flock now, or deal w cockerels.
Here's mama showing her bitties the food. She has rolled the remaining egg closer to the feeder so she can still incubate it. She's a multitasking mama....so far so good!
View attachment 1810486

I figured out what people want where I live - pullets. Not little chicks, but sexed pullets big enough to live outside. I got so much response I sold 3 batches in one day, and had to throw in some of my adults to meet demands. My hope is to go zero in terms of feed cost this year.

 

[AquaDuck]

You need to use coconut oil or olive oil very sparingly with a qtip on the outside of the membrane as you slowly work the shell back. You should be able to see veins in the membrane and if you do you need to wait until they go away. The baby will be very tired and will make chewing or licking motions like it's eating something while in the egg and this means it's still absorbing the blood vessels and yolk sac from inside the egg. Once it's done that it will start chirping like mad and will act like it's trying to stab at the air where the shell would have been with it's beak. That's when to try slowly taking the egg shell back to see if you can free the baby up completely. If you hit any blood apply pressure for about a count of 10 and then put back in the incubator to rest for an hour or so. Take it very slow and give the baby breaks in between.

Oooh question for you: is olive oil as good as coconut oil? And what kind of olive oil is best (the virgin-er the better?)? They don't have coconut oil anywhere near here so I've been looking for a replacement I can use.

 

[Doobly]

Oooh question for you: is olive oil as good as coconut oil? And what kind of olive oil is best (the virgin-er the better?)? They don't have coconut oil anywhere near here so I've been looking for a replacement I can use.

I used coconut myself too as it's less runny. You might find some in the Asian food section of large supermarkets?