Hatch Done, What a DISASTER... 2 ducklings, all others lost or culled.

[conny63malies]

Quote:
the duckling is anencephalic more than likely and this condition is not combtible with life. It happens when the neural tube fails to close completly. If it would have failed to close on the other side the duckling would have have spina bifida

 

[gabrielle1976]

I am So sorry about youre babies, Its reading things like this that make me not want to hatch babies the dead and dying. Poor things.

Could it be some gene thing, I know there are sevral breeds of cats , rats , ect that if you breed that type then there are servral deformities some of which are incompatible with life. Off the top of my head the one that comes to mind is tailless ratsand cats where you can get babies that have deformed spines and intestines and such.
I am praying for the rest of youre babies that they all be healthy and vigourus.

 

[Katy]

I keep a can of starter fluid (ether) on hand to use to put new chicks down. Put a rag soaked with the ether and the chick in a can with a tight fitting lid. Do this outside.

Some people use sharp scissors to snip the head off, but I've never been able to do it.

I wouldn't drown it. That would be too traumatic for both of you.

 

[conny63malies]

Quote:
www.alysion.org/euthanasia here please use this method instead. all you need is a container with lid baking soda and vinegar. maybe a moderator could sticky this link

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

He's gone. RIP little duck.


He was suprisingly spunky for having his head wide open. It was alot worse than it looked through the bator window, the entire top of his head was open, from right above the eyes to the back of the skull.
I had a friend who lost her daughter at birth because she was born like that. So sad.


At least I still have two perfectly healthy ducklings.
Though now I have to admit that I am absolutely panicked about the genetics here. The only thing I can think of making these problems is perhaps the breeder I got my drake from failed to tell me that he was from a crested parent. When you breed crested ducks only one parent can be crested or you get a lethal gene I believe. Like look at the ideal website for example, it says in ducks that come in non-crested that they may include crested in your order as well. And only like 50% of crested hatches come out crested. Perhaps he was from a crested hatch but didn't come out crested and the breeder didn't think it was a big deal? Could this be causing the problem?

I had high hopes for my Khaki ducks. I may have to get new breeding stock now and I don't think that any of these babies would ever get near my breeding pen with the problems I've seen here today

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

I'm almost afraid to see what comes out of these other eggs

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I hope that all the other eggs hatch normal healthy ducks for you.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Looking at my other remaining 3 eggs I had a gripping bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I decided to quickly candle them on the fly to see if they had even pipped into the aircells.
None of them had and there was no movement so I took a chance that I ordinarly never would have and decided to chip away at the shells in the big end to see if I had any signs of life. I just wanted this hatch from hell over.
Using a pottery tool for making fine detail I chipped into the large end of one end which I was nearly certain was dead. It was gone just like I suspected it was, looked like it died maybe a day or two ago. I opened the egg and it was intact, but had weird things going on with it's feathers on it's back. There were these tiny little raised dots at the base of it's feathers all along it's back and then feathers came right off if you barely brushed against them.

With a heavy heart I moved on to the next egg. I chipped and held my breath hoping for some sign of life which would make me put the egg back into the bator.
Again, another dead duckling. This one I have no idea what happened to it. It was the most beautiful duck I have ever seen. All black and white and spotted like a dalmation. It was clearly crossed with my black and white runner hen. I cried when I saw how adorable that baby was. Another one wrapped up in a paper towel and disposed of. *shakes head*

I want you all to know that I only started opening eggs because of the deformities I have had in this hatch combined with just a horrible feel of dread in the pit of my stomach. I knew something just wasn't right. I normally would have NEVER ever taken eggs from the bator and candled them and then opened them. But I am glad I did now. It was such a bad outcome and I have children who have been waiting with bated breath for these eggs to hatch, I had to sheild them from seeing these poor deformed babies as much as I could.

The last egg was alive but I suspected something was wrong right off the bat. There was no peeping, and there was no bill in the proper position.
Figuring there was going to be something really wrong with it I again gritted teeth and held my breath and kept opening the egg. I told myself that I would stop if I saw blood or anything but there was never any. I slowly and gently peeled back the membrane and found the most disturbingly deformed duckling. I can't even go into graphic detail, it was just awful. It was another baby with it's brain exposed but it also had no top bill, serious head and neck problems, and something very wrong with it's feet. There is no way that duckling would have ever been able to pip or hatch and I am glad I opened it and put it down instead of letting it suffer to death over the next couple of days

I do not want to go to bed tonight for fear of the nightmares I'm going to have. I am so devestated and I just don't know what to do next. I don't know if I should scrap my entire duck flock and start over, or just remove my drake and replace him, or what...

My 8 year old son has been very concerned all day and he is so bummed out that we lost this many. Thank god I have the two healthy looking ones. At least he will have something to hold after helping me hand turn these eggs and everything.

Thank you guys so much for being here for me. This has just been a disaster and I know that at least coming here to BYC there is bound to be someone who gets how upsetting this been, instead of telling my non-BYC friends who would be sypathetic but not really "Get it".

UGH, I need a cup of hot tea and a hug. I think I'm going to call my DH at work and chat with him for a few...

I'll take pics of my two healthy ones in a little while.

 

[gabrielle1976]

My heart is with you and so are my tears.
Thank you for shareing with us . I will pray for the contenued health of youre two ducklings, you and they deserve a happy outcome after the heartache.

On a more sienctific so called side. I would defently not use these ducks as breeding stock when they mature and I personally would never use eggs or ducks from whatever source they came from in the futuer . but thats just me and I know nothing of ducks and chicks and not to much about genetics in genaral.

/Hug

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Thanks.
I will not be putting these two ducklings into my breeding pens EVER.... I don't even want to deal with another hatch like this and I wouldn't wish it on anyone else either...