I had a time crawling all over internet articles that pertain to ducklings and chicks hatching with their yolks not being fully absorbed. Which seems to be surprisingly rare. This may sometimes occur when the duckling/chick is premature. All of the articles I came across had rather sad, inevitably fatal endings. But I'm here to spread a little sunshine today. We had not one, but two, premature ducklings naturally hatch (no incubators involved) with their yolks not absorbed. I'm certain you are familiar with the feeling of "no-hope" that I had for these ducklings. After reading countless articles on the subject, I felt that I had gathered enough ammunition to take the situation into my hands with a lot of prayer. It was a success! 
This is what I did.
After checking on the ducklings under the mother & finding that they had not yet absorbed their yolks, I removed them from the nesting box. I normally would let the mother keep all of her ducklings; but the nest box was filthy, and just inviting all sorts of bacteria infections from all over the neighborhood, so i wanted to eliminate that risk of infection.
Hands off! Or just wash them well before handling: Wash your hands thoroughly before & after handling the ducklings. Preferably with an unscented soap or a natural essential oil soap. Dry them on a clean towel not a used one. Just imagine ebola. That should help you stay your cleanest.
Make sure they're warm: I placed them in a make shift brooder {45 - 60 Watt bulb lamp & toweled box} to ensure that they were warm.
Try (I said try) to keep it as clean as possible in the brooder:
I know it is impossible. But We can always try right? Just keep changing the towels out for clean ones and try to keep the food and water in one area, so that the ducklings won't get food and water all over their yolk.
Warm Towel Wrap Around: Once the had separated themselves from the shell, the yolk was still very visible. One of the ducklings had moved around so much that the yolk had bursted & some of his insides had become his outsides so to speak. I gathered some small clean (they have to be very clean to avoid any potential bacteria from coming in to contact with the yolk) washcloths and dipped them in warm filtered water mixed with betadine solution. (I added some Betadine Solution directly to the warm water that I soaked the washcloths in. I was told that you can do the same with Iodine. Just add 4 drops for every 8 ounces of water.) Wringing the excess water out of the washcloth is important. You don't want the duckling to catch a chill, or feel like he's being hugged by his overweight relatives at a pool party. I took the moist, warm towel and wrapped it around each duckling, leaving an opening at the top of course for their heads.
Keep the yolk moist: Once you have your duckling burrito, you're going to have to keep changing his towels once they get too dry or too cold. But you have to keep the yolk moist. It is essential that the yolk stay in liquid form, in order for the duckling to easily absorb it. Smoothie cups are never easy to clean out if you don't do it right away, imagine trying to suck the rest of the dried berry chunks through a straw, yeah... it doesn't work.
Apply Silver Solution*: If you keep this up & everything goes well, the yolk should be slowly shrinking. Once it has had the chance to shrink, apply silver solution to the surface of the yolk & if your duckling has popped t's yolk, apply the solution directly to the insides that are exposed. Keep this up until the yolk is slightly shriveled. It should look like an umbilical cord when it's about to drop off.
You're all set: You can gradually remove moist towels from around the ducklings & out of their brooder. You can also let the ducklings take their first swim! Make sure the water is extremely clean. And feel free to gently assist them in drying themselves off. We don't want them rapidly preening themselves around their yolk area just yet, or they may just clip their "cord." If that happens:
- Keep the area dry.
- Apply more Silver Solution on to the bleeding area.
- Try putting a waterproof bandaid over the open wound. I say waterproof, because that's the only kind that I have had success with getting to stick & stay. Don't worry it should come off once the duckling is allowed access to swimming water again.
*Silver Miracles® Colloidal Silver Gel Can Be purchased at Walmart in a 4 oz. tub in the pharmacy area.
Well I hope this article helps in some way or another!
Our ducklings are as happy as they could be running about like nothing ever happened. But let's not give them too much credit, they probably just can't remember.
This is what I did.After checking on the ducklings under the mother & finding that they had not yet absorbed their yolks, I removed them from the nesting box. I normally would let the mother keep all of her ducklings; but the nest box was filthy, and just inviting all sorts of bacteria infections from all over the neighborhood, so i wanted to eliminate that risk of infection.
Hands off! Or just wash them well before handling: Wash your hands thoroughly before & after handling the ducklings. Preferably with an unscented soap or a natural essential oil soap. Dry them on a clean towel not a used one. Just imagine ebola. That should help you stay your cleanest.
Make sure they're warm: I placed them in a make shift brooder {45 - 60 Watt bulb lamp & toweled box} to ensure that they were warm.
Try (I said try) to keep it as clean as possible in the brooder:
I know it is impossible. But We can always try right? Just keep changing the towels out for clean ones and try to keep the food and water in one area, so that the ducklings won't get food and water all over their yolk.
Warm Towel Wrap Around: Once the had separated themselves from the shell, the yolk was still very visible. One of the ducklings had moved around so much that the yolk had bursted & some of his insides had become his outsides so to speak. I gathered some small clean (they have to be very clean to avoid any potential bacteria from coming in to contact with the yolk) washcloths and dipped them in warm filtered water mixed with betadine solution. (I added some Betadine Solution directly to the warm water that I soaked the washcloths in. I was told that you can do the same with Iodine. Just add 4 drops for every 8 ounces of water.) Wringing the excess water out of the washcloth is important. You don't want the duckling to catch a chill, or feel like he's being hugged by his overweight relatives at a pool party. I took the moist, warm towel and wrapped it around each duckling, leaving an opening at the top of course for their heads.
Keep the yolk moist: Once you have your duckling burrito, you're going to have to keep changing his towels once they get too dry or too cold. But you have to keep the yolk moist. It is essential that the yolk stay in liquid form, in order for the duckling to easily absorb it. Smoothie cups are never easy to clean out if you don't do it right away, imagine trying to suck the rest of the dried berry chunks through a straw, yeah... it doesn't work.
Apply Silver Solution*: If you keep this up & everything goes well, the yolk should be slowly shrinking. Once it has had the chance to shrink, apply silver solution to the surface of the yolk & if your duckling has popped t's yolk, apply the solution directly to the insides that are exposed. Keep this up until the yolk is slightly shriveled. It should look like an umbilical cord when it's about to drop off.
You're all set: You can gradually remove moist towels from around the ducklings & out of their brooder. You can also let the ducklings take their first swim! Make sure the water is extremely clean. And feel free to gently assist them in drying themselves off. We don't want them rapidly preening themselves around their yolk area just yet, or they may just clip their "cord." If that happens:
- Keep the area dry.
- Apply more Silver Solution on to the bleeding area.
- Try putting a waterproof bandaid over the open wound. I say waterproof, because that's the only kind that I have had success with getting to stick & stay. Don't worry it should come off once the duckling is allowed access to swimming water again.
*Silver Miracles® Colloidal Silver Gel Can Be purchased at Walmart in a 4 oz. tub in the pharmacy area.
Well I hope this article helps in some way or another!
Our ducklings are as happy as they could be running about like nothing ever happened. But let's not give them too much credit, they probably just can't remember.
