floppysquirrel04
Crowing
Hey all! Last night my little ducklings hatched. A little backstory... I had 6 incubating duck eggs, 5 from the same nest that the mom abandoned after getting all ready to sit (she's done this more than once) and one was on the floor of the coop that day,"barnyard mystery" so I added it to the batch too. They stored for two days before I putting them in my bator. All of the eggs were good, except one who quit about half way thru the baking process. Fast forwarding, about a day before they were due to hatch, (they were on lockdown at this point) the door into the room that the bator was in got opened somehow while I was away, which never happens. Unfortunately, when I got home, there was a murder scene on my bedroom floor. My beloved dog had knocked over my bator, killing 3 of the 5 ducklings in their shells. It was very unfortunate and traumatizing, and I though I had lost all of them. Thankfully, my barnyard mystery one was perfect, and even pipped a few hours later. The other one was iffy. A quick canceling before being sprayed and put back in the bator revealed it to be alive and internally pipped, but some blood vessels along the shell membrane had burst, and from the outside there was a dime sized purple bruise on the egg. I was very worried Id have a singleton, but it was ok and externally pipped while I was asleep sometime that night. The next evening, last night, they both hatched within 2 hours of each other, with my barnyard mystery first (only took him 30 minutes to zip!). The mystery is a Khaki/Rouen. The other one has a 50/50 swedish cayuga mom and a cayuga dad. Because of the trauma of being knocked over, both of the eggs were dirtier on the inside than they should have been, but I'm not surprised. The rouen is doing amazing, running around, peeping, eating, drinking, normal duckling behavior. The cayuga seems more lethargic and has a runny nose. I tried to get a good pic. It is drinking and ate a bit, however I'm not worried about eating yet because of the yolk in its belly. It isn't totally lazy, it moving around and chirping, but not as active as the other one. I put it in my sink with about 1 1/2 gallons of 85 degree water and about 2 tbsp ACV. It's poop looks ok, a little green tho. Will he be ok? Is there something I can do for him? Because of the shell damage he sustained and everything he went thru, I won't be surprised if he doesn't make it. That would mean that Id have to find a buddy for my rouen tho. I am worried about salmonella tho, we have a 3 year old and a grandma in our house. Is that a concern? Thanks for the help!
thanks
