Hatchling covered in meconium - runner duck 5 days over!

[TheUnlikelyHatcher]

I was reluctant to assist this hatchling, it externally pipped yesterday morning (day 34) and I could see there was lots of meconium but the breathing looked ok and it seemed to be progressing well. By this morning it hadn’t made any more progress overnight and I could see more meconium so I picked off a little shell (it came off easily) and it popped out. I gave it a quick wipe to get some of the meconium off and now I’m just waiting to see if it’ll survive. Any specific tips?
As an aside I have a second egg that externally pipped last night but also hadn’t progressed overnight, I expected it to have died but was still alive so I peeled back a little shell. It had some vessels though so I’ve stopped and out it back. They are so late though, can they survive?
They are both runner duck eggs bought on eBay. And both their air cells were slightly detached.
Thank you

Duckling covered in meconium

 

[MGG]

I was reluctant to assist this hatchling, it externally pipped yesterday morning (day 34) and I could see there was lots of meconium but the breathing looked ok and it seemed to be progressing well. By this morning it hadn’t made any more progress overnight and I could see more meconium so I picked off a little shell (it came off easily) and it popped out. I gave it a quick wipe to get some of the meconium off and now I’m just waiting to see if it’ll survive. Any specific tips?
As an aside I have a second egg that externally pipped last night but also hadn’t progressed overnight, I expected it to have died but was still alive so I peeled back a little shell. It had some vessels though so I’ve stopped and out it back. They are so late though, can they survive?
They are both runner duck eggs bought on eBay. And both their air cells were slightly detached.
Thank you

View attachment 2853985Duckling covered in meconium

That is not meconium. The stuff attached to the duckling is though.
That duckling looks goopy, which is caused by too high of humidity at lockdown. That would have been the reason he couldn't hatch properly. What was your temperature throughout incubation, and did you have at least one separate, calibrated thermometer in there at all times?
For reading humidity, did you also have a separate, salt tested hydrometer in there at all times?
For the duck eggs, don't assist unless it has been at least 24 hours after external pip. Just overnight is not anywhere near long enough for them to hatch on their own. I don't know if you've ever hatched ducks before but they are extremely slow hatchers. Some take 36+ hours from external pip to hatch, and this can be perfectly normal. That's why you should always wait at least 24 hours before assisting.
Get a thermometer and hydrometer in there if you don't already, and lower the humidity down to 65%.
Then just wait. For the one you assisted, wipe him off thoroughly, and remove the gunk from his backside. I would use a warm, wet toothbrush on him. Get one of those soft toothbrushes, and soak it in warm water. Then very very gently scrub the stickiness off of his back and sides with it.
Then towel dry him, and if your brooder is set up put him in there. Make sure the floor is a non slip surface such as a towel, or put shelf liner down on top of a puppy pad. You can also use paper towels, but imo they're still a bit slippery for ducks.
Have one end of the brooder 95 degrees, and a cool end away from the hot end in the 80s. He will most likely be very tired so just let him rest. You can dip his bill in the waterer though so he knows where it's at. I would put some electrolytes in his water too.
I wish you the best of luck with them and hopefully this helps! Let us know how they do!

 

[TheUnlikelyHatcher]

That is not meconium. The stuff attached to the duckling is though.
That duckling looks goopy, which is caused by too high of humidity at lockdown. That would have been the reason he couldn't hatch properly. What was your temperature throughout incubation, and did you have at least one separate, calibrated thermometer in there at all times?
For reading humidity, did you also have a separate, salt tested hydrometer in there at all times?
For the duck eggs, don't assist unless it has been at least 24 hours after external pip. Just overnight is not anywhere near long enough for them to hatch on their own. I don't know if you've ever hatched ducks before but they are extremely slow hatchers. Some take 36+ hours from external pip to hatch, and this can be perfectly normal. That's why you should always wait at least 24 hours before assisting.
Get a thermometer and hydrometer in there if you don't already, and lower the humidity down to 65%.
Then just wait. For the one you assisted, wipe him off thoroughly, and remove the gunk from his backside. I would use a warm, wet toothbrush on him. Get one of those soft toothbrushes, and soak it in warm water. Then very very gently scrub the stickiness off of his back and sides with it.
Then towel dry him, and if your brooder is set up put him in there. Make sure the floor is a non slip surface such as a towel, or put shelf liner down on top of a puppy pad. You can also use paper towels, but imo they're still a bit slippery for ducks.
Have one end of the brooder 95 degrees, and a cool end away from the hot end in the 80s. He will most likely be very tired so just let him rest. You can dip his bill in the waterer though so he knows where it's at. I would put some electrolytes in his water too.
I wish you the best of luck with them and hopefully this helps! Let us know how they do!

Sorry I wasn’t very clear, it externally pipped yesterday morning and had been progressing well over the day but over the 12 hours overnight it hadn’t progressed any further. So it’d been 24+ hours after externally pipping. I was pretty sure it’s meconium (well aware I could be wrong) because the other egg doesn’t have any of the gunk. Also I was thinking as it was so overdue the chances of meconium were higher? (I know that’s true for human babies at least.) I’ve only hatched one egg before and that one didn’t externally pip and was malpositined and I had to intervene so I really wanted them to hatch themselves this time, and I’m hoping this will be my last hatch once I have a friend (hopefully 2) for my lone duckling.
I got 2 thermometers and hydrometers and they gave such wildly different readings that I stopped using them as my first egg had hatched without knowing the humidity. We have had a drop in temperature the last week and my incubator has struggled to keep at 37.5 (on its display - I know this could be out but it’s been reading 37.2-37.5).
I have a brooder with an overhead head pad set up for this duckling/ducklings til it is big enough to go into my larger brooder with my 2 week old duckling - it had puppy pads which worked well with my first duckling and I added pine shavings once it was established on its feed.
I’d wiped the duckling down initially after hatching but have taken your advise and used a soft toothbrush with warm water to try to clean it off a bit better and towel dried it. It seems a bit perkier since then, I’ve also dipped its beak into some water and it seemed to take some. It’s only 10 hours since hatching so it’s still in the incubator and I was planning on moving it across to the brooder at 24 hours? I’m hoping that with the ducklings together in the incubator it may encourage the other to hatch? It’s still no quite found it’s feet although looking more alert.
Thank you for your recommendations, I really appreciate you taking the time out to help me and the ducklings.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Were you're hygrometers and thermometers analog or digital? Did you re-calibrate your hygrometers and thermometers before using them? For future reference it takes ducklings much longer to hatch then chicks and you should wait 48 hours before assisting as 48 hours is not uncommon for a duck to take hatching. The poop is normal inside the egg as well and typically there is no need to wipe them down, but just allowing them to fluff up on their own in the incubator is perfectly fine. Since you assisted the hatch a bit earlier then recommended for ducklings it may take an extra day for your duckling to find it's footing. I would recommend starting immediately on a poultry supplement with Niacin and electrolytes.

 

[TheUnlikelyHatcher]

Thank you, I have niacin at the ready and electrolytes coming tomorrow. Hopefully that won’t be too late.
I should have waited a little longer, I was mainly concerned by the amount of poop along with them being already 28+5 days. Poor little thing was even blowing poop bubbles.
I’m hoping this will be my last hatch if at least one of these duckling survives so my lne duckling has a friend. (Although said duckling seemed scared of the little fluffball in the incubator when I showed them!)
I calibrated and recalibrated the hydrometers, they were digital, probably manual would have been better. If I have another go I’ll try that. I do wonder if my incubator isn’t great also, it was £55 from Amazon. Thank you, everything crossed.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Thank you, I have niacin at the ready and electrolytes coming tomorrow. Hopefully that won’t be too late.
I should have waited a little longer, I was mainly concerned by the amount of poop along with them being already 28+5 days. Poor little thing was even blowing poop bubbles.
I’m hoping this will be my last hatch if at least one of these duckling survives so my lne duckling has a friend. (Although said duckling seemed scared of the little fluffball in the incubator when I showed them!)
I calibrated and recalibrated the hydrometers, they were digital, probably manual would have been better. If I have another go I’ll try that. I do wonder if my incubator isn’t great also, it was £55 from Amazon. Thank you, everything crossed.

It sounds like you have everything under control Almost everything I know about incubating and hatching I learned from a retired avian vet. He told me to throw away all digital instruments and only use analog that are pre-calibrated before each hatch. Some of the best incubating advice I ever received!

 

[TheUnlikelyHatcher]

Here they are this morning, number 1 is fluffy and perky, in the brooder and calling away. It’s had some food, water and a poop already and is huddled under the heat pad.
Number 2 finally exited its shell at 4am and is recovering in the incubator.

Is that brusing on its bill?