HELP my duckling hatched and died before he even dried off :(

[riley17]

Thanks y'all! No, she is not in a nest box. She is on the floor in a corner. I candled the eggs today, because still no ducklings hatched. According to my calendar, it's day 36. But according to the eggs air sack it's only around day 24-30. I used the chart from the sticky on hatching muscovy eggs in this forum to come up with that. So I must have written down the wrong date I guess. I'm on pins and needles waiting for them to hatch!! My honey says he thinks one of our roosters helped the first one "hatch" when mama duck was getting food and water, and that's why he was so early and died. So I closed the coop off to the chickens. They have other shelter out there so I separated mama duck from them. Hopefully they hatch soon and nothing is wrong with them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks y'all! No, she is not in a nest box. She is on the floor in a corner. I candled the eggs today, because still no ducklings hatched. According to my calendar, it's day 36. But according to the eggs air sack it's only around day 24-30. I used the chart from the sticky on hatching muscovy eggs in this forum to come up with that. So I must have written down the wrong date I guess. I'm on pins and needles waiting for them to hatch!! My honey says he thinks one of our roosters helped the first one "hatch" when mama duck was getting food and water, and that's why he was so early and died. So I closed the coop off to the chickens. They have other shelter out there so I separated mama duck from them. Hopefully they hatch soon and nothing is wrong with them.

Sure hope you see some ducklings soon. Thanks for keeping us updated. Good idea to keep the rest of the flock away from mama and then mama and ducklings too.

 

[riley17]

YAY!!! 2 eggs are starting to hatch!! Tonight I checked them and 2 eggs had little cracks and holes started!!! So excited! My first scovy babies!!

I candled them all sunday after noon and marked the ones I thought would hatch first with an x and the ones who needed more time with an xo and so far I was right, the x's are hatching! if all goes well there will be around 15 ducklings. Only 2 eggs out of the whole lot were not fertile or developing so I took those out from under her.

 

[Miss Lydia]

YAY!!! 2 eggs are starting to hatch!! Tonight I checked them and 2 eggs had little cracks and holes started!!! So excited! My first scovy babies!!

I candled them all sunday after noon and marked the ones I thought would hatch first with an x and the ones who needed more time with an xo and so far I was right, the x's are hatching! if all goes well there will be around 15 ducklings. Only 2 eggs out of the whole lot were not fertile or developing so I took those out from under her.

Awesome look forward to updates and of course pics!!

 

[riley17]

How long before I should help them out? The first one is only halfway out and it's been 12 hours....can he really make it out with mama still sitting on him? Second one still only has the crack started. Good news though, is the rest are all cracking now too!! everybody's going to hatch!

 

[riley17]

I just went out and checked, and she had had him kicked out of the nest a few inches and he was up to the air.....so I read the hatching intervention thread, but I cant help him cuz if I peel back the membrane even a tiny bit there's blood...and I'm worried because his yolk sac is still attached! I can see it! What do I do? The rest of the eggs are really cracking now so hopefully the rest will be ok!

 

[riley17]

Also, I stuck him back under her, at the edge of the nest, still up to the air....was this the right thing to do?!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Also, I stuck him back under her, at the edge of the nest, still up to the air....was this the right thing to do?!!

Put the egg back under her and walk away if there is blood it's not ready to come out. keep watch from a distance. Ducks have been hatching eggs longer than we can remember and are much better at it than we are. So try to stay calm, and keep reporting.

 

[riley17]

Ok, thanks! He's still breathing and he kicks a little bit here and there. I stuck a big pan of water in there to help with humidity just in case!

 

[riley17]

He's out! Must have needed more humidity because it wasn't long after I put the water in there! Mama went for a swim in it as well lol. 18 more to go!