Eggs in Lockdown! Hatching Blog

[Miss Lydia]

If you need to help the other one with just taking tiny bits of egg shell off just enough it can breathe good. It's has internally /exterally pipped right? you know how to keep the membrane soft and from drying right?

I'm very sorry you lost the females focus now on helping these last 2.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Yeah, it's what I'm trying to do now. I have olive oil to dab on the membrane. Yes, he was fully pipped and is peeping loudly.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Awesome hopefully he'll keep on working until he's out. If you can't keep the drakes hopefully you can find good homes for them this breed is beautiful.

 

[Canadian Wind]

After all the heartache and since I'm going to have to raise them inside through the winter, I don't think they're going anywhere. I do have the one adult female WH, so who knows...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Since you have Muscovy just let them incubate for you. My Muscovy have hatched Runners and Buffs they are such great mamas. I can imagine the heartache of losing them after waiting so long for hatch to start.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I’m so sorry you lost some
I made mistakes my first time to
The biggest thing is patients
If there is a hole and baby has his beak near it he can breath and you don’t need to rush them out at all
They are much different then chickens
Chicken pip and zip soon after
Ducklings can take 48 hours after the first external pip
Thry take a lot longer to absorb the yolk
Be patient and relax. They are safer in the egg to absorb them out
Using Vaseline is much better at keeping the membrane moist and it last double the time
When assisting you take tiny pieces a few at a time then wait 2-3 hours
Then check fir veins and try again a few more
If you see veins , baby chewing then baby is not ready and you need to let them finish
I know it’s hard

 

[BelovedBirds]

None that I want to report? Well, okay, one. Had one hatch with a bit of assistance. He spent the night in a cup to finish absorbing his yolk and is flopping around right now. Waiting on the one egg that pipped on it's own.

I am deeply ashamed to say that I made a lot of mistakes that culminated in the death of two of the other ducklings. The first being not having my incubator properly calibrated and depending on only one other thermometer and hydrometer for my readings. These babies were way behind in development, as attested by the lack of yolk absorption (even though the air cells and the candling appeared right on).

I am on the fence now about helping the one that is still hatching. He's peeping nice and loud but hadn't made any progress in chipping away his shell. I took the fragments away from where he'd already pipped (yes, two drakelings, none of the three girls made it) and he seems fine in there but I'm afraid of the membrane drying out. But I don't want to end up with a single duckling.

It's one of the reasons I didn't post much yesterday.

Hugs are appreciated, but I know I messed up.

I'm sorry
Please don't beat yourself up, we all make mistakes. Hatching isnt an easy thing.
I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say we're here for you, and crossing our fingers for these two babies!
How long ago did this baby externally pip?

 

[Canadian Wind]

It was pipped yesterday morning.

 

[Canadian Wind]

I think the best thing for me to do is to go out and run my errands so I'm not tempted to fiddle around with them any more. It'll get me out for around four hours, at least.

 

[Miss Lydia]

The little one that was in the cup is the yolk completely absorbed?