HELP! Assisted Hatching?

[nevans20]

I've decided to hatch out some pekin ducklings.

My first batch is due the 29th (yesterday) and although I'm a patient person and fully aware they take a few days extra on occasion. I did have a mishap.
I've moved the eggs so that they hatch in a brooder. I have several batches in an incubator and needed to move the eggs out because the others still need turning. Unfortunately the other day the lamp I have in the brooder busted out and the large glass pieces fell ontop of the eggs, cracking them. One egg especially took the most damage, and although it looked really bad, I left it alone because I did not see any blood or membrane fluid leak out. So I hoped that the membrane was still in tact.

All of a sudden my eggs went quiet. No movement and such. I've of course been super worried and pretty much had given up hope. Except a few hours ago I heard chirping coming from the most damaged egg (we've already decided to call it nemo if it survives because the situation is very much like the disney movie). Now, I've decided to help out some because, though I heard chriping, the membrane (being exposed) has dried a significant amount (and tanned some) and the duckling seemed to have trouble even getting into the air cell. I'm all for letting them do it in their own time don't get me wrong, but my danger senses were tingling. I felt that if I could at least be sure it was getting a bit of oxygen I would feel a ton better. So I opened up the air cell where candling showed his beak. It took a moment to find it because he had broken the membrane but not so much that his beak could come all the way up into the air cell. I noticed the egg shell was pretty tough to break even for me. So I added another humidifier in there.

I think the egg is drying out so fast because of the damage the lamp caused. The membrane is so exposed that it's drying out faster than I can keep it damp. So my question is do you think I should assist the duckling further?

 

[Pyxis]

Hatching in a brooder is not a good idea. Have you been monitoring what the temp is? I assume when the heat lamp broke they were without a heat source? For how long? What about humidity? It would be a far better idea to put these eggs back into the incubator and let them hatch there. Just stop turning the other eggs. In the future, get a second incubator if you want to do a staggered hatch so you do not have this problem again.

It is quite possible that the damaged egg has shrink wrapped. The others are going to do the same thing when they pip because no matter how many humidifiers you have in the room I doubt the humidity is at 70%. The damaged one you may need to assist with hatching. You can carefully open the egg over the air cell and slather the membrane with Vaseline to keep it moist, that will help and will loosen it up so maybe it can hatch on its own.

@RavynFallen do you have additional advice?

 

[nevans20]

@Pyxis

To be quite frank I didn't want to hatch them in the brooder. A friend told me it was better that way and against my gut feeling and judgement I ended up taking them out. As soon as I did everything went wrong so the other batches WILL remain in the incubator until they're supposed to be removed. As far as going without heat, it wasn't long. I had heard the sound of the lamp popping so I immediately saw what had happened. I got a heating pad for them so they were without heat for as long as it took for the heating pad to heat up then I immediately left to go replace the lamp. I wasn't able to measure the temp like that but with the heating lamp I make sure it's around 37.5 celsius. As far as humidity goes I've put in a humidifier but am not able to measure it. Every 2 hours I cover up the brooding box and trap in the moisture so that it's pretty much at 100%. But it does dry up fast.

I'm considering neosporin to smear over the membrane. Only because it will keep away bacteria as well. The most damaged duckling is very exposed now and im worried about bacteria so I stopped wrapping it with paper towel. I don't trust the water that well. Should I put up a picture so you guys can see?

 

[WVduckchick]

How many days apart is your stagger? I'm with Pyxis, I'd put them back in the incubator, and just stop turning the others while these hatch.

Vaseline or Neosporin is fine to use on the membrane. I'm also not a fan of wet-paper-towel wraps.

A picture would be great!

Good luck!

 

[nevans20]

Staggers are about 10 days a part. They say I can only store eggs about 7-10 days.

A few minutes after writing my last post I heard him being extra active and loud. Walked in and he had hatched himself out. But now I'm dealing with like a hernia or unabsorbed yolk sac? I can't be sure.

 

[Ravynscroft]

That's just not quite finished absorbing... leave him in the bator til it finishes, if he'll stay in a small cup, set him in one in the bator...

 

[bryfarmchick]

My duckling hatched and wont suck the rest of his insides in. What do I do?

 

[Ravynscroft]

My duckling hatched and wont suck the rest of his insides in. What do I do?

Set it in a cup in tbe bator and wait...

If you can get a pic, that would be best to tell whats going on though...

 

[bryfarmchick]

It was all the way out last night and he was really weak and now its almost in and he is walking around in the incubator

 

[Ravynscroft]

It was all the way out last night and he was really weak and now its almost in and he is walking around in the incubator

Pic is small and hard to see... does it just seem to be an unabsorbed yolk sac?

You want to make sure it doesn't get punctured before it finishes absorbing... a small tub with a soft washcloth in the bottom might help... keep it warm...