Help. . .my mallard hatched 10 of 12 eggs and left the last two???

[Hmarie]

I have a very broody mallard duck. When her eggs start hatching she won't lay on the last two to hatch the same thing happened on her last set. I've brought the babies inside along with the two eggs. Will they hatch under just a heat lamp? I have candled them and they are alive in there!

 

[Kroelies]

Maybe they were too slow or too weak, the early ducklings need to get water and food after about a day. You could try the lamp however it must be the right temperature and the humidity must be high so the egg membranes don't dry out (mist the eggs with warm water). How far are the 2 eggs? Have they pipped the outside membrane (do you see a small crack in the egg)?

 

[Hmarie]

Well, they didn't make it! My other 10 are doing great though! The two just needed about 3 more hrs under momma and they would have made it based on what they looked like when I cracked them open. All their yolk was almost gone back in them but they were lifeless. I need to invest in a small incu for when this happens again! I WILL be ready!

 

[Kroelies]

Aww, sorry to hear that. Had they pipped externally?

 

[Hmarie]

No they hadn't. One had through the membrane inside the shell but not the actual shell

 

[Kroelies]

They were a few days late, then. I'm not sure if they would have made it if you had put them in an incubator. Usually there is a day between pipping internally and externally and then one or two days later they hatch. I've read somewhere that sometimes ducklings don't want to hatch and stay in the egg, and they will die even of you help them out. But I don't know if that's true

 

[Hmarie]

I don't know if they would have made it or not.. . But I would have liked to have that option to try to save them. I want one anyways bc I have a hen that I think (or either the rooster) is cracking her eggs open! I don't know how to stop her or him? So if you have any ideas on that shoot em at me I need all the advice I can get.

 

[Kroelies]

I understand that, it's so sad when ducklings die

Hmm is the egg cracked open and eaten? I've heard people filling eggs with mustard and because it's so nasty the chickens (or ducks) stop cracking them open, eventually. But it's very hard to unlearn egg eating. Good luck, if you want more advice perhaps search the forums or open a new thread