... going fishing sounds good ... hmm
have a good time!
Final results are in we have 5 baby muscovies. The hatch went well... worse than expected. I blame the extreme heat, but who knows. I was also told that sometimes they develop funky with a leg/foot kind of around the front of the face, so they can pip, but can't move their head enough to get more done. That may have been the case. As I opened all the ones that died late last night during the hatch to see them, and they did have a foot over their faces. 2 were still in the shells, so we helped them out gently. When we did get those free one was strong and bright eyed, the other was taking shallow breaths and very lethargic. The one was dead when I woke this morning. Maybe if we had helped the others out earlier in the hatch they would have lived, next time we know what to look for at least. So here are the official #s:
4 - alive, hatched all by themselves
1 - alive, helped it out of shell
1 - dead, helped it out of shell, passed in the night
5 - died before making it out, fully developed
2 - underdeveloped - died at some point during incubation
Of the ones that made it, 2 look to be lavender, 2 look chocolate, and 1 looks black. At least that's how it looks right now.
I pinioned them this morning, man was that easier than I thought it would be
They barely noticed I did it, and there was very little blood, I dabbed the end in neosporin for protection. Cutting my dogs nails is 100x worse than pinioning a day old duck
They are hanging around under Mom in the nest - even though it is 100 out there. The others are still making it out. One of them I am slightly worried about, the yolk sac was still attached to the egg shell that was discarded. It was bleeding a little at first from the abdomen, then after a couple of minute it had stopped, so maybe everything will be alright. I will snap some pics later.
