My baby ducklings

[remco93]

Hi y'all,

I have been reading quite a lot on this website already. 2 months ago I started hatching runner duck eggs in my self made incubator. The first time unfortunately zero of my 3 eggs hatched. (1 infertile, 1 early death and 1 death after internal pip)

The second time went better. I got 7 out of 8 fertile eggs and they all developed well. In the end only 3 of them pipped and hatched so I think something still went wrong somewhere, I guess the humidity.
1 was so weak and had a lot of problems, she died after 2 days.

1 went to my aunt who has 2 more ducklings and 1 stayed with us. 4 weeks earlier we bought a runner duckling that someone else hatched and named her (probably her) Pip and the little one we named Lilly.

Pip is now 6 weeks old. I am wondering is he ready to go outside yet? The lowest it gets here in the night is now between 50-55. (Holland) He has a rabbit cage with lots of straw and a stuffed duck toy. He is not peeping when he is outside, only a little bit when he sees me but after that he is quiet again. Do you guys think it is alright? I see more and more white coming through on his belly.

My other question is about Lilly. When she hatched, 1 eye was closed. Everyday we cleaned it with cooked (and of course let it cool off first) water. After a few days a small yellow thingy came out but the eye was visible now. As you can see on the picture it has a white spot and it is not very clear. She also cannot (fully) see through that eye. Looking at her reflects I think she does see a little bit tho.. Has someone see this before and do you think this will maybe heal? If not I guess he will be able to live with 1 eye but of course 2 would always be easier ;-)

Here are some pics:


Lilly 1 week


Lilly and Pip


Lilly when the yellow thing was just removed


Thanks in advance for the advice!!
Regards,
Remco


Lilly waving y'all a goodnight!

 

[DuckGirl77]

Welcome to BYC! Yes, Pip can go outside now, but are there any other ducks outside to keep him company? I'm not sure about Lilly's eye, but I hope it gets better! They are so cute!

 

[remco93]

Hey Duckgirl, thanks for the welcome and your reply!
Pip has no other friends outside yet so I try to keep him a lot of company until Lilly will be able to go outside too.
And sometimes I put a bottle with warm water with him so it will be a little bit warmer for a while.

By the way I totally agree with your subscript! God bless!

 

[DuckGirl77]

Thank you

If you're there to spend time with him that's fine for him to be out. Good thinking with the water bottle, too.

 

[remco93]

Alright! Thanks!

 

[DuckGirl77]

You're welcome. I hope you can figure out what Lilly has!

 

[remco93]

Thanks, hope so as well! Fortunately it seems she is able to see at least a little bit through that eye but it cant be a lot

 

[remco93]

Pip just died today....

I had a small tub for him to swim. He never had problems getting out of it, but I think today he was too tired or something.. and I was too late.. I am soo sad and feel so incredible stupid

 

[DuckGirl77]

Oh, no!!! I am so, so sorry! You're not stupid; we all make mistakes. I lost a duckling a couple months ago and I feel as though I could have prevented it.

 

[remco93]

Thanks!
Aw sorry to hear that! How did you lose the duckling?
Hopefully today we will get a new duckling of about 5 days old so Lilly won't be alone!