About to put day 34 Muscovy egg in lockdown and there is ANOTHER bruise! I just lost a duckling this morning and now this AGAIN! 💔

[BelovedBirds]

Yes,
She never went broody, no matter how hard we tried she just scattered her eggs and laid them everywhere!
We would put them in her brooder box and she’d kick them out!
She’s only 9 months and this was her first time laying.
She started on January 23rd and just stopped a week ago! Ugh!

Why do you feel the need to incubate all the eggs? I'm just trying to understand.
There's no baby in an egg that has been laid, the baby starts to grow after incubation begins. You don't need to incubate them, you'll just end up with hundreds of babies

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Oh, ok!
I understand now. I am so nervous that I get confused.
You mentioned to check for veins, is it ok to take him out of lockdown to do that?
I’m terrified of shrink wrapping.

Thank you so very much!!!

I did just fine for mine
But I did warm up the room
If you have a bathroom to put the bator in and run the shower on hot yo heat the room and build humidity that will prevent shrink wrap

 

[BelovedBirds]

Ok, I just did that. I did not see any veins and I think his little behind is halfway into the air sac. Lots of movement in the air sac and lots of peeping.
I can see enough through the safety hole enough that I can watch his beak.
As of today I don’t see anymore “chewing and yawning” but he doesn’t seem to have any interest in attempting to try to hatch.
Not once did any of them hatch completely on their own. It’s very upsetting and stressful because I still have 10 eggs left. The last 4 are from March 21st. And 2 were not fertile. The other 4 are developing nicely. The other 6 are due between April 7th - April 11th.
Unfortunately I forgot to date them because we had so much going on, but I can pretty much tell by looking at the eggs. (Which I learned from this awesome group!)
I’m sure that you can understand how nervous I am right now after losing my last one, that I just can’t stop blaming myself for it dying! I know I keep repeating myself but I’m 98% sure I could have saved my poor baby.. The scratch was small but I should have allowed her to finish hatching and worked on stopping the bleeding.

So that being said, I’m extremely nervous about having to assist with this one. I’ve never had a malpositioned duckling before and I have no way of knowing if it’s yolk sac is absorbed.

I’ll absolutely keep sending updates.
And thank you so much as usual!

You haven't commented on the other information yet I think, is your plan to keep incubating/hatching eggs, or will it just be these upcoming babies, and no more?

 

[BelovedBirds]

Yes, it makes total sense. Thank you.
So, there are no veins at all and no chewing.
I’m afraid to enlarge the hole any more because now I’m scared to do anything at all.
I know he’s going to need assistance, but when will I know when it’s time.
I allowed the last one to starve because I didn’t assist on time and I couldn’t bear to lose another one.
Tomorrow will be day 37, and I’m getting worried..

Thank you as always

Wait for @New duck mommy 2021 to reply, she'll talk you through the next steps if it's time to take them.

Just want to mention here again, that the previous babies didn't starve. They had yolk left/just finished absorbing, and would be fine without food for a couple days after that. The yolk is all they need, once that's gone they don't need to eat for a while.

 

[BelovedBirds]

My apologies, very busy day!
We are trying to grow our flock and would like to have about 12 Muscovy’s. 2 females to each drake I believe is correct.
After this batch we are hoping she’ll go broody the next time.
Incubating staggered ages of eggs is VERY stressful.
We plan to have our female looked at by a vet very soon, as I want to make sure she is healthy and ask about why there was issues with all her eggs.
If she starts laying again I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do.
I’m one of those people who try to save everything! I’m a rescuer/rehabber as well.
We absolutely love animals of every kind.

There's nothing to save
The eggs are empty when laid, there are no babies in those eggs, no life there to save
You grow that life when you incubate the egg

If you keep hatching every egg, Amy, you won't be able to keep every baby and they won't all end up cared for
I don't want to sound harsh but it is so, so incredibly important. Fertilised eggs are not alive until they are warmed up in the incubator. There's no baby, no heartbeat, no life. Until incubated.

Simply feed the eggs back to the ducks, if you don't want to eat them.
But there is nothing wrong in eating them- if you eat store bought eggs, some of those may be fertilised too. And I'm sure you know that those eggs have no babies in. Nor do your duck's eggs

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Yes, it makes total sense. Thank you.
So, there are no veins at all and no chewing.
I’m afraid to enlarge the hole any more because now I’m scared to do anything at all.
I know he’s going to need assistance, but when will I know when it’s time.
I allowed the last one to starve because I didn’t assist on time and I couldn’t bear to lose another one.
Tomorrow will be day 37, and I’m getting worried..

Thank you as always

Amy the duck didn’t starve he wasn’t even absorbed yet
He bleed out unfortunately
This happens when we force hatching to early
Please post pictures of candling him
And I will take a look

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I would candle the egg not the air cell but around his head
He should be ready by now but to be sure just raid a look in the egg fit veins
If you don’t see any pic a little shell them moisten to double check for veins
If good take a little more ect until you can be sure all is clear
If at any point you hit a vein or he pushes out and bleeding occurs get them bleeding stopped
I gently but firmly press against the vein to stop it
If it’s the navel then I gently hold dry paper towel over it then add a little antibiotic ointment without pain Relief in it

 

[BelovedBirds]

Ok,,, do I just start peeling away little chips of the shell?
And do what you said if it starts to bleed?

If theres no chewing/yawning, and no visible veins
then yes, just a tiny bit at a time, begin to hatch him.
If you're still feeling a little unsure, have a quick skim read through the Assisted hatching article before beginning. But at this point, he should be ready.
If there's any bleeding, take a deep breath, stay calm, hold a dry paper towel to the bleed until its stopped. Then put him back in the incubator and wait longer.
Keep us updated

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hi my friends,

So, I’m still very emotional about losing my beautiful baby duckling this morning, and I got the lockdown incubator cleaned and ready for my 34 day old.
Upon candling for the last time I now see this bruise that was not there on Monday.
I can’t win!
Obviously, yet another baby is malpositioned and I don’t know if I can go through this again.
All who have been following me know of my struggles.
What now???

Thank you all,
Amy

I know it's hard after just losing one, but a safety hole at the bruise is so important

Take a deep breath and go slow

Any update this morning? Did you make the safety hole?

 

[AmyA248]

We told you, the eggs aren't good quality to hatch from, that's why you're having so many problems
There could be other things going wrong in incubation too

It definitely looks like another malposition, be patient, baby needs days to absorb

Thank you,

It’s day 36. I put the safety hole and had good luck with getting it right over the beak.
He’s picking at it a bit and made it a little bigger. I can see his beak now a tiny bit.
I don’t think he’ll be able to hatch by himself though.