Assisted duckling with shell that turned gray

[HennyPenny44]

It’s day 29 and I just assisted a duckling who was in a shell that was progressively turning gray in the air sac area. The entire air sac area looked gray when I decided to intervene. It never pipped and when I made an opening, it was peeping it’s head off. I tried to let it hatch in the incubator but it was struggling to and looked very cramped. So I proceeded to chip away and found it was surrounded by a yellowish gelatinous mass. When it pushed itself out, the yolk seemed to be fully absorbed. However, the area where it gets abosorbed has a pink protrusion like an outie belly button. Does that mean it has to absorb into the body still? I wrapped the duckling in a paper towel and put it in a plastic cup to keep it stationary in the incubator. Anything else I should do? What could have been the cause of this? She seems a bit weak.

 

[BelovedBirds]

It’s day 29 and I just assisted a duckling who was in a shell that was progressively turning gray in the air sac area. The entire air sac area looked gray when I decided to intervene. It never pipped and when I made an opening, it was peeping it’s head off. I tried to let it hatch in the incubator but it was struggling to and looked very cramped. So I proceeded to chip away and found it was surrounded by a yellowish gelatinous mass. When it pushed itself out, the yolk seemed to be fully absorbed. However, the area where it gets abosorbed has a pink protrusion like an outie belly button. Does that mean it has to absorb into the body still? I wrapped the duckling in a paper towel and put it in a plastic cup to keep it stationary in the incubator. Anything else I should do? What could have been the cause of this? She seems a bit weak.

The yellowish substance sounds odd but hopefully that's just hatching debris. Can you get a pic of her naval? I expect it's just the remenance of the umbilical cord, and it should be fine.
If the naval looks okay, just a tiny stump, she doesn't really need to be in a cup.

The grey shell is odd, I don't know what causes that
When my duck hatched, I had to assist her because she was stuck. When I did, I saw the entire shell was turning grey, as though bruised all over. She was overdue, and I wonder if she somehow bruised the shell by pushing against it for such a long time.

It's normal for ducklings to be weak after hatch and it can take hours, sometimes even up to a day, for them to get their strength up. If you're worried, and if she had a difficult hatch, it may be worth giving her a bit of sugar water or nutri drench, once she's fluffed up.

 

[HennyPenny44]

Thank you for the reply. Yes, in retrospect, the yellowish substance was probably hatching debris. I thought for a while it was contamination that was causing the shell discoloration. It started in the spot a duckling usually pips and spread throughout the shell under the air cell.

Actually, her navel looked bad to me at first but after putting her in the cup, she started moving around. So I took her out of it and it looked like the navel had receded. She was moving around the incubator in no time. She is now in the brooder with her siblings and doing well! I do have some electrolyte powder so I’ll provide it in the water.

I‘m so glad I helped because I’m not sure if she would have made it had I not. It makes it worth it after losing two babies to what appears to be malpositioning. It’s my first duckling incubation and I’m still learning.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Thank you for the reply. Yes, in retrospect, the yellowish substance was probably hatching debris. I thought for a while it was contamination that was causing the shell discoloration. It started in the spot a duckling usually pips and spread throughout the shell under the air cell.

Actually, her navel looked bad to me at first but after putting her in the cup, she started moving around. So I took her out of it and it looked like the navel had receded. She was moving around the incubator in no time. She is now in the brooder with her siblings and doing well! I do have some electrolyte powder so I’ll provide it in the water.

I‘m so glad I helped because I’m not sure if she would have made it had I not. It makes it worth it after losing two babies to what appears to be malpositioning. It’s my first duckling incubation and I’m still learning.

It sounds like you've done really well!
I'm sorry to hear that you lost two
I'm glad to hear that the baby is doing well now!

 

[HennyPenny44]

It sounds like you've done really well!
I'm sorry to hear that you lost two
I'm glad to hear that the baby is doing well now!

Yes, I was curious if I did anything wrong so I looked in the dead embryos’ eggs and they were facing toward the narrow end of the shell and still had yolk attached. Probably couldn’t be saved.

I think the waiting is the hardest part. Chicks hatch much quicker from my experience so I kept wondering if these little guys needed help. But I have 4 adorable ducklings in the end. The cuteness factor is overwhelming!

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Yes, I was curious if I did anything wrong so I looked in the dead embryos’ eggs and they were facing toward the narrow end of the shell and still had yolk attached. Probably couldn’t be saved.

I think the waiting is the hardest part. Chicks hatch much quicker from my experience so I kept wondering if these little guys needed help. But I have 4 adorable ducklings in the end. The cuteness factor is overwhelming!

Did you notice any bruise on the egg in the wrong end ?
Sometimes if they can’t get to the air cell they try to external but can’t always break the shell but a bruise appears
If you incubate again and you don’t see them internal pip look for bruising
If you see one immediately make a safety hole size of a sharpened pencil at most
This allows them to get air
Added a picture of one I just hatched with a bruise

 

[HennyPenny44]

Did you notice any bruise on the egg in the wrong end ?
Sometimes if they can’t get to the air cell they try to external but can’t always break the shell but a bruise appears
If you incubate again and you don’t see them internal pip look for bruising
If you see one immediately make a safety hole size of a sharpened pencil at most
This allows them to get air
Added a picture of one I just hatched with a bruise

No, I didn’t see any bruises on the other end. Seems like the goners never even made it to the narrow end of the egg. One of them was moving and possibly repositioning on day 23 so I thought she’d hatch early. I was disheartened when I candled and saw the breathing had ceased. I did make safety holes for all my eggs actually because again, I was worried they were taking so long from the first pip to do anything or didn’t pip on their own by day 28. The eggs seemed smaller to me than duck eggs I purchased before—like jumbo chicken eggs—so I was worried about space. The last one to “hatch” that was bruised never actually pipped by day 30 so I helped get her out.