First time hatching Muscovy babies, please help!!

[MommaDuck78]

Hello everyone, being a new mama to Muscovy ducks for the very first time last year I raised my first two together being French whites. Miss Daisy and mr. Duke. After they were of age and I realized Duke need more females i picked out two females that were under a year old to bring home for him. Out of all three of my girls oh, it has been a very big learning experience trying to get live ducklings. Between my three girls Daisy my oldest, has sat twice and Lily and Dahlia have both set once. Being inexperienced first-time mothers we didn't have any luck with live ducklings being hatched 4 times in a row with three girls. I also put duck eggs in incubator twice with no success of life hatchings. Then I finally got a digital temperature and humidity controlled smaller incubator and I put three of Miss Daisy's eggs in there from her clutch this time.I have had a lot of success so far I have three live ducklings inside of three eggs but my issue is Jacqueline number one seems to have her head stuck in between her thighs so I don't know if she's going to zip. Right now as of 36 to 38 hours after the first external pip, she has made progress but it seems like her little beak can't come very far out of the hole and her little thighs are on each side of her beak. My question is when do I know for sure that the blood vessels are receded so I can help her out? these three ducklings mean the world to me right now after trying six different times between my female ducks and the incubator over the last year.... I really need to see this little girl make it out alive. That is egg number one from daisies clutch, egg number 3 officially has a crack today and egg number 2 is officially starting to break into the air sac as of 4 hours ago. I really really want to make sure all three of these ducklings make it out alive it means the world to me at this point especially where all three eggs are from my very first baby Miss Daisy. Daisy and Duke were given to me when they were six days old last year after I lost a kitty cat. Daisy lets me pick her up and she snuggles into my neck and nibbles on my cheek so knowing that these are her babies I'm hoping for at least one more male and two more females alive..... baby number one has made a good hole in one spot with her beak so I know that she can breathe even though heard beat is between her thighs, I can see her breathing.

 

[MommaDuck78]

Muscovy are usually externally pipped for 36 hours before unzipping, but if your baby has pipped straight out, skipping the internal pip stage then you need to add 24 hours onto that timeframe. If she can breathe she is fine, and I wouldn't start to interfere until 60 hours have passed to give her a chance to do everything she needs to do before she is ready to hatch. It sounds like an eternity, but it's much more risky to try and 'help' too early, and once you start helping you need to monitor them closely so wait until she's most likely ready to unzip before stepping in to help her. She should get restless at that stage and she'll try to rotate.

To check whether the veins have receded you need to carefully chip some of the shell off at the air cell end, trying not to break the membrane. Or you could very carefully do it around where she has pipped. Use some cooking oil and smear a little on the membrane. This will make it transparent and you'll be able to see any veins still there. Just be aware that once you start chipping the shell away the membrane will start to dry out faster, so only do it once you think she's nearing hatch time.

Talk to her lots to encourage her. Muscovy are adorable ducks.

it all goes swimmingly in the end.

Thank you very much for your fast response. This morning she is still what looks like in the stuck position with her beak in between her thighs LOL still breathing I have been talking to her very much and giggling and telling her she needs to get her head out of her butt I will keep you updated on her! ❤ Going to have my coffee before I look at if there are any blood vessels remaining... It has been officially 48 hours since I saw the first signs of external pipping.

 

[JaeG]

Muscovy are usually externally pipped for 36 hours before unzipping, but if your baby has pipped straight out, skipping the internal pip stage then you need to add 24 hours onto that timeframe. If she can breathe she is fine, and I wouldn't start to interfere until 60 hours have passed to give her a chance to do everything she needs to do before she is ready to hatch. It sounds like an eternity, but it's much more risky to try and 'help' too early, and once you start helping you need to monitor them closely so wait until she's most likely ready to unzip before stepping in to help her. She should get restless at that stage and she'll try to rotate.

To check whether the veins have receded you need to carefully chip some of the shell off at the air cell end, trying not to break the membrane. Or you could very carefully do it around where she has pipped. Use some cooking oil and smear a little on the membrane. This will make it transparent and you'll be able to see any veins still there. Just be aware that once you start chipping the shell away the membrane will start to dry out faster, so only do it once you think she's nearing hatch time.

Talk to her lots to encourage her. Muscovy are adorable ducks.

it all goes swimmingly in the end.