BelovedBirds
Crossing the Road
Hi! can you get a photo of the duckling and the yolk sac?I had one I had to assist this morning it pipped externally sat and still hadn’t hatched. With my help it hatched this morning and was dragging the yolk sac around. Then that part fell off and it’s belly looked like your pic. I had another duckling hatch out on it own overnight and I think it ruptured it. I removed the other duckling and put it in the brooder with 2 that hatched out over the weekend so it’s by itself in the incubator. Hubby thinks it may reabsorb it but I don’t think it will. I have it resting by itself and got it to where it’s wing wasn’t sticking to its body. When I was peeling back the shell it’s membrane was very sticky and thick mucous like. This was the best hatch I’ve had since March. I got 6/9 this time unless this one doesn’t make it then it’ll be 5/9. Sadly my last 2 adults got eaten by foxes yesterday morning. Im
Switching over to chickens with these last 5-6 pekin and 2 mallards.
Ducklings take a long time to hatch, after external pip they could still take one or even two days before the zip. You must be patient. When assisting, you must not hatch them fully if they are yawning or chewing, or if you see yolk. This baby was premature.
The most dangerous thing that you can do in this situation is leave them in the incubator or brooder with other ducklings. This is how the yolk sac could rupture and get infected.
Put the duckling asap in a cup lined with clean dry papertowels. Put the cup into the incubator and wait for whatever is left of the yolk to absorb. The duckling cannot be left with the other babies, or left loose where the yolk can be stepped on.
Please do this and share photos asap so we can see how likely it is that baby will survive?