Bare headed duckling

[FeatheredObsessions]

My Muscovy hen just hatched a large clutch and one of the heads out there is completely bald on the forehead. My first thought was his feathers dried while hatching and were pulled off with the shell??? Anyone ever had a bald headed duckling? None of the oterh ducklings look even close to this one.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Last year I had a few hatch that were really weird. The feathers were not embedded into the skin. I could clearly see the root of the feather sitting on the skin- it really looked bizarre. I had never seen anything like it before and never found out what can cause that to happen. In my hatch last weekend- I had another similar. The aircell on the egg was a really good size- but there was too much fluid in the egg- and the duckling was tiny. It was unzipping and I could see it very wet beak and the fluid starting to ooze from the egg. I had to remove a little shell and drain out some of the fluid to stop the duckling getting glued into place. When it was out of the egg- I saw that it too had the issues with its down. As it dried up the feathers fell off - now it has some bald stripes down its back. This has only happened when there is too much white left in the egg at hatching time- but I am wondering if maybe something similar has happened to your duckling. Poor ducky- I hope that as it grows it doesnt stay bald in on its head.

 

[FeatheredObsessions]

He's pretty funny looking for now but seems to be doing well. I was very nervous to leave him with the rest but I did find a shell that looked like it had "glue" and feathers....maybe his?