Miss DuckWiggle
Hatching
- Apr 26, 2015
- 4
- 0
- 7
My 2 female ducks have been nesting for well over a month now, and several days ago their eggs started to hatch. Unfortunately, I kept going out to the barn only to find brand new ducklings lying dead on the ground. It absolutely broke my heart 
. Maple and Afflac (the mums) seemed so concerned about their eggs, but the babies started to hatch and something went wrong. At first we thought that perhaps they got cold, even though in theory Maple and Afflac should have kept them warm themselves. I put a heat lamp out over the nest to help, but still more ducklings died. The little ones appeared to have wandered a few inches away from the nest and just died. My dad and I came to the conclusion that, while they were both very broody, Maple and Afflac just didn't seem to have the mothering instinct.
At that point, most of the eggs had hatched, and with only two left, who I thought were simply not going to hatch, we took the heat lamp away. For days, Afflac kept sitting on them, but Maple lost interest, so I thought that that was confirming my suspicions that the eggs were bad, as I figured that they would have hatched by now if they were going to. Just about a half hour ago, I went out to the barn and I saw Afflac sitting on the 2 eggs that were left. She too seemed to be gradually losing interest in them, and I felt terrible about the poor babies that had passed away. I was standing there thinking to myself that maybe I should just remove the eggs, as I was certain that if there were any ducklings in them, they were long dead. I went into the pen and Afflac moved right out of the nest as I approached, something she never did in the past. I was just about to reach in and take the eggs out when I realized that one of them had been broken. As I looked closer, I heard small peeps coming from the egg. It was moving too- I could see the breaths of the duckling! Maybe it was wrong of me to do it, but I couldn't stand by and let another baby die without trying to do something, so I took the egg into the house, put it in a small bin with some shavings, and put a heat lamp over it. As I sit here writing this, the egg continues to peep and move, and I can actually see the duckling moving around through a small hole in the shell, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up.
Maybe it won't work, but I needed to try. Does anybody have any suggestions for me? Unfortunately, I don't have an incubator any more, so perhaps humidity may be an issue. I've given the shell a very light spray to keep it from drying out, but I really don't know what else to do. I'll keep you posted on what happens!
. Maple and Afflac (the mums) seemed so concerned about their eggs, but the babies started to hatch and something went wrong. At first we thought that perhaps they got cold, even though in theory Maple and Afflac should have kept them warm themselves. I put a heat lamp out over the nest to help, but still more ducklings died. The little ones appeared to have wandered a few inches away from the nest and just died. My dad and I came to the conclusion that, while they were both very broody, Maple and Afflac just didn't seem to have the mothering instinct.At that point, most of the eggs had hatched, and with only two left, who I thought were simply not going to hatch, we took the heat lamp away. For days, Afflac kept sitting on them, but Maple lost interest, so I thought that that was confirming my suspicions that the eggs were bad, as I figured that they would have hatched by now if they were going to. Just about a half hour ago, I went out to the barn and I saw Afflac sitting on the 2 eggs that were left. She too seemed to be gradually losing interest in them, and I felt terrible about the poor babies that had passed away. I was standing there thinking to myself that maybe I should just remove the eggs, as I was certain that if there were any ducklings in them, they were long dead. I went into the pen and Afflac moved right out of the nest as I approached, something she never did in the past. I was just about to reach in and take the eggs out when I realized that one of them had been broken. As I looked closer, I heard small peeps coming from the egg. It was moving too- I could see the breaths of the duckling! Maybe it was wrong of me to do it, but I couldn't stand by and let another baby die without trying to do something, so I took the egg into the house, put it in a small bin with some shavings, and put a heat lamp over it. As I sit here writing this, the egg continues to peep and move, and I can actually see the duckling moving around through a small hole in the shell, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up.
Maybe it won't work, but I needed to try. Does anybody have any suggestions for me? Unfortunately, I don't have an incubator any more, so perhaps humidity may be an issue. I've given the shell a very light spray to keep it from drying out, but I really don't know what else to do. I'll keep you posted on what happens!
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