BackyardBantams79
Chirping
- Mar 30, 2018
- 33
- 50
- 89
I haven't had a lot of following on my other thread:
Call Duck Hen failure to commit
so I thought I'd just do a follow up post to share the results of the incubation attempt.
After a few early deaths, a couple of infertiles, and one accidental egg cracking (incubator lid fell in), we've ran the majority of this incubation with 12 call duck eggs. We lost one embryo to late death last week. With 11 remaining and the back story of the journey these eggs have been on (see other thread for the full story) I was really just going to be happy if one or two hatched.
I can't believe all 11 eggs that were sitting successfully hatched. There was ONE assist and I'm almost certain the duckling would have died had I not assisted. The egg was malformed (slender, long, and pointy) and was showing signs of exhaustion and was slipping away after 3 days post-pip and only the pip hole completed (also with a bit of assistance to get the membrane punctured for a safety hole). The duckling was nearly lifeless afterwards for hours... not even opening it's eyes and couldn't lift it's head and no peeping. I used a qtip and electrolyte water in hopes to revive it. Allowed the water to wick in (so as not to drown the poor thing) every 20 minutes or so over a couple hours then had to leave for an event. Came back and the kids had moved all three (that guy and the other two new hatches early that day) over to the brooder since they were fluffy and actively running around. I was SHOCKED to see the little half dead guy zipping around, drinking himself, eating... truly amazing.
Call Duck Hen failure to commit
so I thought I'd just do a follow up post to share the results of the incubation attempt.
After a few early deaths, a couple of infertiles, and one accidental egg cracking (incubator lid fell in), we've ran the majority of this incubation with 12 call duck eggs. We lost one embryo to late death last week. With 11 remaining and the back story of the journey these eggs have been on (see other thread for the full story) I was really just going to be happy if one or two hatched.
I can't believe all 11 eggs that were sitting successfully hatched. There was ONE assist and I'm almost certain the duckling would have died had I not assisted. The egg was malformed (slender, long, and pointy) and was showing signs of exhaustion and was slipping away after 3 days post-pip and only the pip hole completed (also with a bit of assistance to get the membrane punctured for a safety hole). The duckling was nearly lifeless afterwards for hours... not even opening it's eyes and couldn't lift it's head and no peeping. I used a qtip and electrolyte water in hopes to revive it. Allowed the water to wick in (so as not to drown the poor thing) every 20 minutes or so over a couple hours then had to leave for an event. Came back and the kids had moved all three (that guy and the other two new hatches early that day) over to the brooder since they were fluffy and actively running around. I was SHOCKED to see the little half dead guy zipping around, drinking himself, eating... truly amazing.
