Egg too small, duckling pipped, struggling to breathe, no noise, day 28 - pic attached

[New duck mommy 2021]

What an amazing story !
I know how you feel loosing a baby thinking if you had done more. The two I lost still haunt me. I am very pleased with the babies I do have though
Those thick veins will start to drain as baby gets closer to hatching. Baby looks good and his beak isn’t blocked so he can breath
When the babies are hatching they will move into the air cell filling the egg. When my one that pipped outside the air cell was ready to start moving a little shell we headed down towards the air cell and there was no air cell left it was full baby. I learned this is normal
How does baby look this morning ?
I’m glad I could give you a little hope
They also can hatch on their own as I said 2 of mine fully hatched with no help that was a big break for me
Here is a few pics of my babies back in December and this week

Only 4 babies in the one picture as baby Hope wasn’t born yet. She is 2 weeks behind the others. After I started to incubate miss daisy decided to go broody. I didn’t have a lot of promise as she is a Pekin and many said they don’t usually stick to the nest but my girl went all the way to the end. Unfortunately she didn’t know how to help her little ones once they started to hatch and the two died after internal pip. Hope I had to take as I needed to watch to make sure so I removed the two dead eggs and hope and gave her chicken eggs she continued to sit while I worked on hatching hope. After Hope was dried off I tried to give her and her shell to mom but it didn’t go over well. She tried to attack hope. My other babies were 2 weeks and also tried to pick at her so I had to keep her in her own pen but put her side by side with her siblings. After a few weeks I moved them all into a much bigger pen and they accepted her instantly. She was so happy to be part of the flock. At that point the babies were close to the parents so they could all see and hear each other. I did this for a month then started to let them out together for short times and gradually longer. Now they are out together all day and only separated at night. The adults still do the odd chase but nobody is getting hurt the babies are just learning who is boss

 

[WVduckchick]

Thank you so much!!!!! Truly!!! This means the world to me! I took notes. lol! I've been all over BYC and it's been great. So much to learn! It seems you got a quick education. I appreciate the how-to very much. I am so glad you had successes Give me hope. It's awful to lose them

When I walked by the box a little while ago I looked in the window. I was able to see that he was not bleeding after all. It's just a big vein or blood vessel. It looked like blood on the camera. Phew!

I have not had the best start to duck parenting. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that when I get through all the worst case scenarios I'll have a yard full of Rouen's happily quacking about. For now, I'll be watching the camera I have in the hatching box as if I'm binge watching a good show. hahaha As long as he doesn't have trouble breathing I can easily resist the urge to assist him. He seems to have moved himself around enough to gain a little breathing room. I still don't know what I'm seeing when I look in there, so hopefully he's in a decent position. With a little luck tomorrow at some point he'll just pop out on his own. There's a 2 day lull before the next one is due. Ugh!

I got my ducks from a farm I planted at last year. Their father was trying to kill them. He successfully killed 3 before the farmer removed them, but 2 more died when a raccoon got into the bird house. The poor things were only 4 wks old! Of the 5 that survived, 2 had been bitten by the raccoon. One had huge deep holes in his back and neck which were filled with maggots. The other had only small holes, but one eye was blinded, his bill no longer lined up properly, and it appeared that he had a stroke of sorts. The farmer was going to "put them out of their misery", so I asked if I could take them. In the end I got all 5 ducklings and set out to rehabbing them. Maggots were new to me. NEVER want to do that again. I now know more than a person should. hahaha Took 2 days to get all the buggers out of his spine! There were 4 deep holes that went beyond each side of his spine, which I'm assuming is why he couldn't walk or swim. After assessing him I decided that I would take it hour by hour, trying to weigh will to live with quality of life. I built a sling to support him while he tried to swim. On his own he would topple over in the water, unable to move his legs. The sling made him very happy because he could dunk his head. I used the same sling like a marionette to get him walking. Throughout it all he was eating, drinking, pooping (of course) and still enjoyed the company of his mates. I built a separator and bed for him in the duck house so he was safe but didn't have to be away from his buddies. I wasn't sure how far back he'd make it, but he obviously wanted to try. In the end we can no longer tell him apart from the others so it was well worth the effort. The other injured duck didn't fare as well. He's a happy duck and is accepted by the other drakes, but his left side hangs a bit, and his bill is permanently misaligned so he has chronic wet feather. He's a mess, but he's my mess and I love him. hehe

This pic is egg #3 from just over an hour ago. I think he looks ok, but that's another uneducated guess on my part.

This latest pic looks fine. It is going to need several more hours before these veins recede. But now that so much shell has been removed, you will likely have to continue to assist. The babies are curled up inside to allow leverage to break the shell and rotate inside, breaking the shell by zipping the end off. Not having the full shell intrudes on its leverage, so you might have to help it finish.

Here is my favorite illustration of how they are curled up in the final stages.

Also, to help you decide when to move each egg to the hatcher. Just before they internally pip, you will see the air cell draw down. When draw down starts, that’s when the egg needs moved to higher humidity.
These 2 pics were taken on consecutive days. When you see it look like the second pic, that’s when it needs moved.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

This latest pic looks fine. It is going to need several more hours before these veins recede. But now that so much shell has been removed, you will likely have to continue to assist. The babies are curled up inside to allow leverage to break the shell and rotate inside, breaking the shell by zipping the end off. Not having the full shell intrudes on its leverage, so you might have to help it finish.

Here is my favorite illustration of how they are curled up in the final stages.
View attachment 3030802


Also, to help you decide when to move each egg to the hatcher. Just before they internally pip, you will see the air cell draw down. When draw down starts, that’s when the egg needs moved to higher humidity.
These 2 pics were taken on consecutive days. When you see it look like the second pic, that’s when it needs moved.
View attachment 3030809View attachment 3030810

I was hoping you would see and come help.
I’m forever thankful for your knowledge, support and patients with me.

 

[HostileMatron]

Guide to Assisted Hatching for All Poultry

Have you read over this article? It covers many of the things you've mentioned and I believe you'll feel a little more confident after reading it. It's insane to me how any chick and/or duckling fits inside the egg, after it's hatched. Being tight in that egg to some extent is actually helpful in their hatching. Of course there are cases when the hatchling grows too large but that's usually because the humidity and/or temp is off. I've hatched egg from hens that were under a year. Of course it wasn't the very first few eggs, but they were under a year. I would just focus on the hatch and try to stop beating yourself up over this. There's a chance that the egg sizes are fine. As long as you make sure the temp and humidity are correct throughout incubation, you will have less risk of problems. I think you're doing great and your ducklings and ducks are lucky to be yours

Thank you so much! I did read the article you mentioned and you were right. Haha. It did make me feel better

 

[HostileMatron]

This latest pic looks fine. It is going to need several more hours before these veins recede. But now that so much shell has been removed, you will likely have to continue to assist. The babies are curled up inside to allow leverage to break the shell and rotate inside, breaking the shell by zipping the end off. Not having the full shell intrudes on its leverage, so you might have to help it finish.

Here is my favorite illustration of how they are curled up in the final stages.
View attachment 3030802


Also, to help you decide when to move each egg to the hatcher. Just before they internally pip, you will see the air cell draw down. When draw down starts, that’s when the egg needs moved to higher humidity.
These 2 pics were taken on consecutive days. When you see it look like the second pic, that’s when it needs moved.
View attachment 3030809View attachment 3030810

The pictures are super helpful! All this great advice is appreciated

 

[HostileMatron]

The little fella is still doing good! (My son has named hum Lucky already, so now I NEED him to hatch) I haven't had to do much except watch and wait, which makes me very happy. The high humidity seems to be keeping him moist too. Hopefully 75% is ok for hatch day. Today should be his day. Woot woot!! I'm glad I put windows in the hatch box. The camera is not as clear as the windows and all 3 of us want to watch. hehe

This picture was taken about 15 minutes ago. The big vein has darkened quite a bit and he's chirping louder and more often. I'll keep a close eye for problems, but will also have my fingers crossed that I get to just be the camera lady. I think I know what I'm looking for now and will only assist if he gets himself into trouble. I've read/watched the guide to assisting several time and don't want to do ANY of that, but I am prepared if it's necessary.

Oh, I picked up a handful of small mirrors so that he wouldn't be lonely while he waits for his mates. Does this trick work? Since we put the eggs in as we collected them, they will hatch daily for the next couple weeks. We lost eggs #4 & #5 during incubation. One never developed and the other had a blood ring on day 12 so the next egg up isn't due for 3 days. I would prefer the duckling to hang with ducks and not people.

 

[HostileMatron]

The first picture is of the parents, the other is of the uncles. They are kept separate in the yard so that the boys don't fight

The duck on the left in the second picture is my Muffin. He's my mess. Since the raccoon attack his left eye is blind, he leans a little to the left, his bill doesn't quite match up and he has chronic wet feather. We keep a coop heater in the bath house for winter and the boys hang there until he's dry. If he's drenched then he gets a blow-dry spa treatment in the workshop. He absolutely LOVES the dryer. hahaha! He also looks very different from the others. We had thought he was a female, but then he developed a green head (much later than the others). He's a disaster but he's happy and gets along fine with his mates. The duck in the middle is the one that was terribly bitten by the raccoon. I call him Hero. He survived the impossible and today is a happy and healthy duck.

 

[WVduckchick]

The first picture is of the parents, the other is of the uncles. They are kept separate in the yard so that the boys don't fightView attachment 3031209View attachment 3031210


The duck on the left in the second picture is my Muffin. He's my mess. Since the raccoon attack his left eye is blind, he leans a little to the left, his bill doesn't quite match up and he has chronic wet feather. We keep a coop heater in the bath house for winter and the boys hang there until he's dry. If he's drenched then he gets a blow-dry spa treatment in the workshop. He absolutely LOVES the dryer. hahaha! He also looks very different from the others. We had thought he was a female, but then he developed a green head (much later than the others). He's a disaster but he's happy and gets along fine with his mates. The duck in the middle is the one that was terribly bitten by the raccoon. I call him Hero. He survived the impossible and today is a happy and healthy duck.

They are lovely. I can see why you want some babies from them.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

The little fella is still doing good! (My son has named hum Lucky already, so now I NEED him to hatch) I haven't had to do much except watch and wait, which makes me very happy. The high humidity seems to be keeping him moist too. Hopefully 75% is ok for hatch day. Today should be his day. Woot woot!! I'm glad I put windows in the hatch box. The camera is not as clear as the windows and all 3 of us want to watch. hehe

This picture was taken about 15 minutes ago. The big vein has darkened quite a bit and he's chirping louder and more often. I'll keep a close eye for problems, but will also have my fingers crossed that I get to just be the camera lady. I think I know what I'm looking for now and will only assist if he gets himself into trouble. I've read/watched the guide to assisting several time and don't want to do ANY of that, but I am prepared if it's necessary.

Oh, I picked up a handful of small mirrors so that he wouldn't be lonely while he waits for his mates. Does this trick work? Since we put the eggs in as we collected them, they will hatch daily for the next couple weeks. We lost eggs #4 & #5 during incubation. One never developed and the other had a blood ring on day 12 so the next egg up isn't due for 3 days. I would prefer the duckling to hang with ducks and not people.

He is looking great !! Veins are going down nicely
Yes mirrors work
You will find though the ones a few weeks apart may not take the younger ones
I tried mine that were 2 weeks apart and he grabbed her by the little beak and threw her
I kept them separated a few weeks but pens beside each other so they could see and hear one another
You maybe okay but be prepared in case
Also ones at 2 weeks do not need the same heat temp as new borns
I used a heat plate and not a lamp for mine
Just make sure the Oder ones have plenty of space to get out of the heat if they need to
I’m so excited to see pics once he is born
Also be prepared I did a staggered hatch as well but a few of mine came early as when you have one hatching while other eggs are just hitting the lockdown it speeds them up as they hear the hatching baby. This happened with my two that came a few hours apart
Once he hatches if you do have other eggs in the hatching bator maybe check them for internal pips

 

[NatJ]

The air sacs in my eggs are much smaller than they should be.

If the air cell is too small, that means the humidty was too high in the incubatore.

The eggs lose moisture as they incubate. As moisture goes out, the air cell gets bigger. That's why you can find all those diagrams online of how big the air cell is supposed to be at what stage of incubation.

If the humidity in your incubator is too high or too low, the eggs lose moisture at the wrong rate, and the air cells are the wrong size. If you keep the incubator a bit drier, the eggs will lose moisture faster, and the air cells will be bigger at hatching time.

During hatching, they need a high enough humidity to keep the duckling from sticking to the shell. Do not reduce humidity in the hatcher. But for the ones still in the incubator, you can change the humidity up or down until you get it right.