HELP! hatching disaster

[finnane1]

I am extremly novice at this whole thing but i took home a batch of mallard eggs from the school's coutryard where i teach because the mother duck was killed by a hawk...but anyway i incubated and today they started hatching. 5 hatched fine no problem and i moved the 2 remaining eggs that showed signs of movement and cracks in with the rest of the chicks and put an infarred light to keep them warm. The infarred light however was too close and i thought it was way to hot for the two eggs and i got worried. In one of the eggs the whole beak of the duck was out and there was lots of noise and movement and, so i thought he was ready to come out because his beak had been out for a long time and i thought it might be too hot in there...so i helping him out of the shell....and he had a pink thing hanging from his stomach and he was definitly too weak to stand up. Im guessing this is part of his yolk sack ....and it looks very gory and then it ruptured and red fluid leaked out of it

What is the best way to help the little guy....i want him to make it so bad

....i moved him back into the incubater and i don't know what i should do next.

 

[Paganbird]

Keep the eggs moist - you should leave them in the incubator.
Eggs should stay in the incubator until they hatch.
Chicks can stay in the incubator until they are a few days old.
Make sure the injured chick is on something soft, like a paper towel or washcloth, instead of a wire floor.
That's the best info I can give you.
Good Luck!

 

[finnane1]

well over night it dried out and is just a tiny shrivled black bump the baby duck is active and seems to be alright but his feet are bent backwards so that he walks on the tops of his feet with his toes facing backwards not the bottom. so he does this weird wobbly walk that seems very ineffective he doesn't seem to be able to spread out his feet even when he is laying down....is this some cause of being hatched to early or a birth defect? anything i should do? otherwise he seems healthy

oh and the other egg hatched no prob

 

[kelliepulido]

you need to make little boots for him soon!! Look up spraddle leg it will show you how.I had 1 that I made the boots for and he is a big ole rir roo now.Another I couldn't get the boots on right and I had a cull her.Now if they are like that I cull them right away.

 

[finnane1]

so i made little splints for him and now he cant walk at all, even more clumsy with the splints on. but i think maybe he will learn to walk with his toes apart, he just needs time to adjust.

im gettin very attached to the little guy...hes a fighter

 

[finnane1]

also ive been looking around this site and others and should i maybe also feed him some cooked eggs for vitamins or get some vitamin supplements? or maybe cooked meat? their eating the chicken feed now

 

[lilchik]

Are the splints still in place? You could try leaving them on for an hour, off a few hours, on an hour, etc. He will eventually get used to them and be able to walk with them on. You can also gently do range of motion to his feet a few times a day. What did you make them from? Perhaps they are too heavy?

I wouldn't give cooked meat. Hard boiled eggs are okay. Make sure you are feeding non-medicated chick starter feed.

Can you post any pics?

Good luck.

 

[finnane1]

i made them out of light cardboard, like the kind of cardboard from a macaroni box, and some masking tape. today he seems very uninterested in the other chicks, food, and everything, he just lays there pretty much. The other chicks weigh 34 grams and this little guy weighs only 25 grams.

 

[lilchik]

The light card board is good, but the masking tape is too stiff to permit movement. You need to get some Coband flexible tape, sold at TSC, Southern States, etc. in the horse section. It is stretchy, flexible, and self adhearing. I used it on a goose and duck after removing "bumble foot" to allow for healing and it worked great.

 

[Mahonri]

That would be fun to be raising mallards.