Help My Duckling Survive!

beckymm

In the Brooder
May 23, 2017
8
4
21
Hey all,

This is my third hatch and this round my incubator was having much trouble keeping consistent heat. Out of 8 eggs, only 5 developed past a couple weeks. I have 3 healthy babies that had no problem getting out on their own, one died after it pipped, but it was malpositioned and pipped the wrong end.

I have one chick that never never pipped but the egg was rocking for days, but I couldn't hear peeping so I made a pip in the air cell, I could see the beak but it hadn't internally pipped. Anyways, I left him for days and there was no progress, humidity was kept at about 65%, and I kept moistening the membrane, but I thought he may have been shrink wrapped so when the blood vessels shrunk I made an internal pip at his beak. He made no progress on his own but was moving a lot and peeping so I prepared to assist today (5 days overdue).

He is strong, but he seems under developed. His eyes are no open and his navel is protruding. Yolk is all absorbed and very minimal bleeding observed when the inner membrane tore.

THE PROBLEM is I think he is still attached to the egg/membrane at his navel area. How do I help him/how long do I leave him to try to do this on his own? I want to give him the best chance. I was a veterinary technician for 8 years so I am not shy with these type of things, but not familiar medically with birds and I want him to survive!

Thank you for any assistance!! <3 I can try to upload pictures later on if that would be helpful.
 
Hey all,

This is my third hatch and this round my incubator was having much trouble keeping consistent heat. Out of 8 eggs, only 5 developed past a couple weeks. I have 3 healthy babies that had no problem getting out on their own, one died after it pipped, but it was malpositioned and pipped the wrong end.

I have one chick that never never pipped but the egg was rocking for days, but I couldn't hear peeping so I made a pip in the air cell, I could see the beak but it hadn't internally pipped. Anyways, I left him for days and there was no progress, humidity was kept at about 65%, and I kept moistening the membrane, but I thought he may have been shrink wrapped so when the blood vessels shrunk I made an internal pip at his beak. He made no progress on his own but was moving a lot and peeping so I prepared to assist today (5 days overdue).

He is strong, but he seems under developed. His eyes are no open and his navel is protruding. Yolk is all absorbed and very minimal bleeding observed when the inner membrane tore.

THE PROBLEM is I think he is still attached to the egg/membrane at his navel area. How do I help him/how long do I leave him to try to do this on his own? I want to give him the best chance. I was a veterinary technician for 8 years so I am not shy with these type of things, but not familiar medically with birds and I want him to survive!

Thank you for any assistance!! <3 I can try to upload pictures later on if that would be helpful.
The most knowledgeable folks are over at https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ooks-and-more.1137467/page-5763#post-18504045
Can you post a link to your thread there? Good luck, as a vet tech you know they're tough little guys. Pics will help.:D
 
Hey all,

This is my third hatch and this round my incubator was having much trouble keeping consistent heat. Out of 8 eggs, only 5 developed past a couple weeks. I have 3 healthy babies that had no problem getting out on their own, one died after it pipped, but it was malpositioned and pipped the wrong end.

I have one chick that never never pipped but the egg was rocking for days, but I couldn't hear peeping so I made a pip in the air cell, I could see the beak but it hadn't internally pipped. Anyways, I left him for days and there was no progress, humidity was kept at about 65%, and I kept moistening the membrane, but I thought he may have been shrink wrapped so when the blood vessels shrunk I made an internal pip at his beak. He made no progress on his own but was moving a lot and peeping so I prepared to assist today (5 days overdue).

He is strong, but he seems under developed. His eyes are no open and his navel is protruding. Yolk is all absorbed and very minimal bleeding observed when the inner membrane tore.

THE PROBLEM is I think he is still attached to the egg/membrane at his navel area. How do I help him/how long do I leave him to try to do this on his own? I want to give him the best chance. I was a veterinary technician for 8 years so I am not shy with these type of things, but not familiar medically with birds and I want him to survive!

Thank you for any assistance!! <3 I can try to upload pictures later on if that would be helpful.

While I have hatched, and I have assisted, I am by no means an expert. I think it should fall away on its own (this happened with one of my chicks last time I hatched - by the time I came back from posting a question on BYC, he had come loose). You can watch it a while and see what happens - if it seems stubbornly stuck on, so that it doesn't cause bleeding if it gets caught on something, maybe quickly take it out (into a bowl lined with a warm damp washcloth, in a warm area) and carefully cut it away if you can (you said no blood vessels), and then put it back in to recover and rest. (If there are still eggs in there, toss in a warm wet paper towel or two when you open the incubator so the humidity doesn't drop.

Not sure if that helps, maybe someone else will pipe up.

:hugs:fl

- Ant Farm
 
Thanks! I had him in a cup lined with paper towels all night and he's still the same so I gently wet the area more and slowly pulled it away. No bleeding but it seems like his waste bag is attached to him! Might just be all stuck but I didn't want to stress him out any more right now so I just put some antibiotic ointment around the umbilical area, re-wrapped him and put him back. He's drinking a wee bit of sugar water and still peeping away, but I think we might have more of a deformity. I guess we will see!
 
@beckymm a picture would help a lot to show us what is attached i have a feeling it is post-hatch gunk:

LL


which can mean the humidity was too high at the beginning of incubation/temps too low
*not my image
 
Thanks! I will send a pic later on. Yes that looks like it, but also his navel is protruding but it does look to have gone down since last night. Temp was definitely a bit wonky this hatch!
 

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