HELP PLEASE! in the middle of an assist hatch & my guide is unavailble now!

[Kleonaptra]

He is my problem child....but this is all my fault bringing him into this world too early I am so dang attached to him & can't stand to see him suffer like this. I will NEVER assist hatch again!
My new hatching technique....
incubate
lockdown
sit on hands & listen for peeps of hatched eggs
remove after dried & fluffed
toss non hatched eggs

Never say never!

Just read through this thread. unbelievable story, very cute babies. You are so lucky your first assisted hatch has done so well. See that handsome boy in the black mask in my avatar? First bird I ever incubated and I use the term lightly. Someone gave me a bunch of eggs and I stuck them under a lamp. No turning, no misting, no temp checking, just touched the eggs occasionallly to see how warm they were. This boy's egg was UPSIDE DOWN, yep, he pipped pointy end, and must have been working on hatching for a while before I noticed because I paniked and assisted immediately! He was ready and lived. But I killed his sister who external pipped soon after by jumping in straight away. Well, I'll never know for sure if I did it, or if she wouldnt have made it either way, but because of my inexperience, now we'll never know. Now every time someone pips I read the assisted hatching page to calm myself before I do anything!

 

[Duckee]

@Lacrystol , i responded to this yesterday & it never showed up. I've seen him blow his nose in the water once. Can he take a swim now?

 

[luvmypets]

Amazing! So happy to see you had a happy ending

 

[Duckee]

you are right...I couldn't let a duckling just die. But, I will definitely do an assist as a very last option and proceed with caution and slowly!!! I do feel very blessed to have my lil scoodie. His neck still isn't healed, but he is normal in all other ways. He plays, eats, drinks, and now he swims!

P.S. your duckie is a cutie Is it a mallard?

 

[Duckee]

Thanks, his neck is still bent. It hasn't gotten better or worse. I think @Lacrystol is right in that it may be a muscle or sprain. But Scoodie seems very healthy and happy otherwise....being a typical duckie. He has grown so much this last week too

 

[Kleonaptra]

you are right...I couldn't let a duckling just die. But, I will definitely do an assist as a very last option and proceed with caution and slowly!!! I do feel very blessed to have my lil scoodie. His neck still isn't healed, but he is normal in all other ways. He plays, eats, drinks, and now he swims!

P.S. your duckie is a cutie Is it a mallard?

Hi, did you mean me?

He is a Pacific Black Australian wild duck. He found his way to me because a guy driving a bulldozer couldnt bear to crush the nest. I think they are the most gorgeous ducks but this little guy just wont breed for me. He's 7 now. One of my ducklings from this year, Abbey

May be Wists son but there is some doubt. This Lil guy (he's 2 months old now) was my only assisted hatch this year. I had the egg in my hand to throw it away, literally, chuck it thinking it was a dead egg, when I saw that little outward chip. The shell was cracked but not the membrane. One of the other ducklings in the bator had kicked it over. I used clean tweezers to break a hole in the membrane and put it back in wrapped in damp paper towel....And the other 2 ducklings attacked it and ate the paper towel! I set up my brooder, got the others out, and left Abbey alone to pull himself out, which he did, quite well! You have to get nerves of steel I swear! Now when I hear that frantic chirping through the hole I just smile, knowing its all ok.

 

[Lacrystol]

@Lacrystol , i responded to this yesterday & it never showed up. I've seen him blow his nose in the water once. Can he take a swim now?

He has to clean his nostrils out, so that's good, is he a week old yet? If so, try the swimming lesson but KEEP an eye on him, with his head twisted like that, he could have issues. How's the little guy doing today?

 

[Lacrystol]

Thanks, his neck is still bent. It hasn't gotten better or worse. I think @Lacrystol is right in that it may be a muscle or sprain. But Scoodie seems very healthy and happy otherwise....being a typical duckie. He has grown so much this last week too

are you giving him neck massages?

 

[Duckee]

@Lacrystol ,

Scoodie is now 1 week & 3 days old ALREADY! Wow, that went so fast. His neck is still bent, but it seems to not be as much and he's able to move it more fluently. He does still go in circles, like when I sit him down after holding him, or when he just wakes up he seems disoriented and goes in circles. He regulates himself quite quickly though. Hubby found a way to get him to take the vitamin E easily. Scoodie likes hubby's wedding band because it's shiny, so he pecks at it all the time. So hubby took the band off, cleaned it really well, put the vitamin E on it, held it by Scoodie and Scoodie licked it clean! DD So i got a fake shiny band and use that...works famously! He is still on the other vitamins as well.

He is swimming very well, but he won't dive like his sibling does. He is able to clean his nostrils and his body though. I do regular gentle massages on it...he loves that!

 

[Duckee]

@Kleonaptra

I've never heard of that breed duck. He looks like my rouen duckie. Your other duckie looks like my jumbo pekin. Your right about being able to tell if a duck egg is alive or not. So hard to tell either way.