Can duckling survive after being taken out of egg prematurely?

[cheraboo]

So we've had this duck egg in the 'bator for just over four weeks. Ana candled it today and pronounced it dead. She asked if she could open it up and take a look - she's always curious about how far a chick/duckling developed before it died. She cracked the egg and dumped out a duckling with yolk still attached. Ana picked it up to take a closer look and the duckling was breathing! I had her put it back in as much of the shell as she could and then put it back in the incubator. I know we probably killed the poor little thing but is there anything we can do to help it at this point?

 

[Pollitollito]

oops thats the reason I do not like to open them, its horrible, definetly if the yolk sack still not consumed, he will not survive. Look at his belly, if the sack is almost or empty he will, putting him back with the rest of the egg will not work because you already openned and cut the cycle. Just clean the rest of the stuff and retain whatever is attached to the babys belly, put him on a clean paper towel and back to the bator, If a day passed he will survive, most of the times they died after a few hours. hope this help!

 

[peaceful]

How's it doing? Likely it was too weak to hatch, thus likely too weak to live, so try not to feel too bad if it doesn't make it. To give it the best chance make sure there is lots of humidity in the incubator, ducks need more humidity than chickens.

 

[kelseygirl707]

Was there a lot of blood? I would assume if it hadn't even pipped the air cell yet, it probably lost a lot of blood.