Duckling mass death diagnostic

[Jemima Duck]

The fact that they made it to hatch means the conditions werent 100% bad. if your ducks are laying good sized eggs ide go for it again

Some people are realy lucky. My sister hatches silkie chickens and gets amazing hatch rates from a crap chinese incubator, while i calibrate thermometers, carefully watch humidity and use a thermostatic relay heated incubator and sometimes i get crap hatch rates

Ducks themselves incubate eggs with their fat buts and do just fine. what i mean is there are soo many variables that its easy to have a realy bad hatch. But dont get discouraged!

What kind of incubator are you using? where in your house do you use it?

Thank you for your reply! I have a brinsea eco incubator, and they were in my bedroom, so I know the room temperature didn't drop too low or get too warm etc. It eases my mind that you think the same way as me in that if they got to hatch then the conditions weren't completely off... I wonder if the eggs were too small, and I helped out too late and they were too weak by that point or something like that? I think everyone in my life is getting sick of me going on about how guilty I feel about how badly the hatch went haha.

 

[Jpat]

Thank you for your reply! I have a brinsea eco incubator, and they were in my bedroom, so I know the room temperature didn't drop too low or get too warm etc. It eases my mind that you think the same way as me in that if they got to hatch then the conditions weren't completely off... I wonder if the eggs were too small, and I helped out too late and they were too weak by that point or something like that? I think everyone in my life is getting sick of me going on about how guilty I feel about how badly the hatch went haha.

its all good, i lost a few important hatches this year and it realy sucked

What realy inproved my hatch rates was putting my incubator in my basement closet, its cool and very dark. A very constant enviroment made a good improvement for me anyway

Are their eggs getting bigger now?

 

[Jemima Duck]

Hope you are doing okay... loosing chicks is horrible they are such helpless creatures, it's upsetting to see something so innocent die of situations or of its control. And hmm, I'll bear that in mind, though we have tiny houses here in England haha. I don't know anyone on this side of the pond that has a basement honestly.

And yes, I suppose they are gradually getting bigger, they will lay a smaller one, then a few big ones. They themselves were hatched around April/may this year, so I suppose they still need time to get to their optimal egg size. The chicks seem to be huge inside the egg, with barely any room at hatch. There was most certainly no room for most of them to move their head to pip internally or externally. It still kills me that the one that did pip externally died suddenly after one day of running around like it was healthy. This makes me wonder if the parents potentially have an illness that doesn't effect them, but could effect chicks?

 

[Jpat]

Hope you are doing okay... loosing chicks is horrible they are such helpless creatures, it's upsetting to see something so innocent die of situations or of its control. And hmm, I'll bear that in mind, though we have tiny houses here in England haha. I don't know anyone on this side of the pond that has a basement honestly.

And yes, I suppose they are gradually getting bigger, they will lay a smaller one, then a few big ones. They themselves were hatched around April/may this year, so I suppose they still need time to get to their optimal egg size. The chicks seem to be huge inside the egg, with barely any room at hatch. There was most certainly no room for most of them to move their head to pip internally or externally. It still kills me that the one that did pip externally died suddenly after one day of running around like it was healthy. This makes me wonder if the parents potentially have an illness that doesn't effect them, but could effect chicks?

iam fine thanks for asking , the first two days of life is realy critical and we need to expect some losses and be prepared for it, its going to happen

ide love to discuss further but its beyond my knowledge. But i know ide try again, and if it fails ide buy hatching eggs from a hatchery and try it

 

[Jemima Duck]

iam fine thanks for asking , the first two days of life is realy critical and we need to expect some losses and be prepared for it, its going to happen

ide love to discuss further but its beyond my knowledge. But i know ide try again, and if it fails ide buy hatching eggs from a hatchery and try it

Thank you again for your response! You have eased my mind quite a bit about the guilt of the whole thing. Thanks for taking the time to respond!

 

[Beaglegal]

I don’t know anything about hatching, all my ducklings were mama hatched, but even one of my mamas lost most of hers and she is supposed to be a pro. She lost 2 right after hatching and one a week after, never did know what happened. Out of 6 eggs only one made it to adulthood.

So needless to say, you aren’t alone. All you can do is keep trying and learning

 

[Jemima Duck]

I don’t know anything about hatching, all my ducklings were mama hatched, but even one of my mamas lost most of hers and she is supposed to be a pro. She lost 2 right after hatching and one a week after, never did know what happened. Out of 6 eggs only one made it to adulthood.

So needless to say, you aren’t alone. All you can do is keep trying and learning

Thank you, genuinely means a lot to hear that I'm not alone

 

[johntfs]

Do you have any colleges/universities in your area or close by - especially ones with some kind of veterinary program? If so, you might donate the bodies there to be necropsied (autopsy but for animals) with the provision that you get copied on the results. It could be that it was just nasty luck. But it could be that there was a specific cause. If that cause could be found, you might have better luck with your next hatch.

 

[Jemima Duck]

Do you have any colleges/universities in your area or close by - especially ones with some kind of veterinary program? If so, you might donate the bodies there to be necropsied (autopsy but for animals) with the provision that you get copied on the results. It could be that it was just nasty luck. But it could be that there was a specific cause. If that cause could be found, you might have better luck with your next hatch.

Hmm, I'm not sure. I've more heard of people doing it in America, not sure if they do it in the UK? I'll look into it though, but it will have to be if anything goes wrong in the future as the chicks have already been disposed of sadly. Thank you!

 

[johntfs]

Hmm, I'm not sure. I've more heard of people doing it in America, not sure if they do it in the UK? I'll look into it though, but it will have to be if anything goes wrong in the future as the chicks have already been disposed of sadly. Thank you!

A quick Google gave me this: https://www.studying-in-uk.org/best-veterinary-schools-in-the-uk/

I am American, but it's difficult to believe that vets, especially farm animal vets, wouldn't necropsy animals that died of non-obvious causes - especially in (relatively) large quantities. You're the country that got hit by Mad Cow disease. The yearly revenue for poultry farms in the UK in 2019 was something like four billion Euroes. Nobody wants to risk... I don't know, Crazy Duck Syndrome or something destroying the industry. So there's a decent chance a mass death, even of ducklings, will be taken somewhat seriously by scientists.

I'm just saying go ahead and reach out to somebody now. Describe the situation. You might get a free inspection/check-up out of it. Best case it prevents a recurrence in the next hatching. Worst case, they tell you to "sod off." But the case will likely stick in their minds and if something similar happens, to you or someone else, that memory could give them the jump on finding the cause and cure.