Help please

[Miss Lydia]

@WVduckchick?

 

[WVduckchick]

@WVduckchick?

They can be moved any time. I wait until they are moving around good on their own inside the incubator. But as long as the brooder is warm, it doesn’t matter if they aren’t completely dry.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks since I wasn’t sure just needed double thumbs up

 

[milkweeds]

Hi again, we once again rescued some fertile eggs for the cold outside after some tragic events with the neighbours ducks. Is there any tips in ensuring humidity stays high during lock down and anyway to help the ducklings with out effecting the temperature and humidity. Also what temperature should it be when the ducklings hopefully hatch
Thank you

 

[milkweeds]

I keep my duck eggs about 80-90% humidity...until they are all out. and once I see a crack...I make a hole big enough to breathe well. I recused 10 duck eggs last june and had 8 days left. The mother laid them under a windy tree and when they began to pip...and crack the egg I made a nice eraser size hole...12 hours later they were still dry in the sack so I had to perform delivery in a warm bathroom and hot sink water...we had a 2 hour delivery session but all made it...just keep that humidity high...throw some water in there..I keep temp about 95-98 when hatching.....himidty will drive that temp up anyways.....I don't let chicks of any kind stay too long in egg...I make sure they are out within 12 hours of piping....I found leaving ghem in there sometimes exhausts them..

 

[Crowe18]

Hi we’ve just had new hatchlings and two we believe are black Swedish - we have never had them before but were wondering about their wings. They have come out very straight like and airplane so is this normal ? Or is it a case of early angel wing ?

 

[casportpony]

Hi we’ve just had new hatchlings and two we believe are black Swedish - we have never had them before but were wondering about their wings. They have come out very straight like and airplane so is this normal ? Or is it a case of early angel wing ?

Can you post a picture?

 

[Crowe18]

It was hard to get a picture as he’s just so active but hopefully you can see what I mean

View attachment 1750058

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can the little one hold it's winglets close to its body at all or can you lay them down in other words are they fixated in that position?

 

[WVduckchick]

Keep an eye on them, but you won’t really know if it’s angel wing until the feathers start coming in.

This is an excellent post about it.

Angel wing shows up when the first set of flight feathers starts to grow out, no matter the age... it is all depeendent on when each particular duck is growing out their primaries... that being said, primaries are very heavy pinfeathers that ducklings aren't used to and need to build up the set of muscles used to keep them in place and tucked in properly, so many times they stick out a bit before they learn how to keep them folded... and the tips need to reach a certain length before they will even catch properly when they fold them up...

If it self corrects, then it's just 'growing pains' and akwardness from new, heavy feathers... true angel wing *does not* self correct, it always needs to be corrected... but wrapping when unsure if it is angel wing or not does not hurt them and many wrap *just in case*...

I do suggest waiting just a bit longer before deciding to wrap or not, just because the pin feathers are still short and messing with them can be a bit sore for them... and if they get broke, they *can* bleed rather badly... I prefer a good bit of the feathers to extend out first, plus it gives more to tuck in properly for correct growth...

After much research and personal, hands on experience, it does seem more likely that angel wing is more likely a hereditary issue more than a too much protein issue... and can be more common in Calls than other breeds just due to the extremes Calls tend to be bred for...

They do still need a proper, balanced diet though... and too high of protein is not recommended... a good average is 20%, but slightly higher or lower (+/-2%) is fine... they do have higher Niacin requirements than chicks though, so chick starter should be supplemented with brewers yeast mixed in or Vitamin B complex added to their water...

Or switch to a good feed with her Niacin content like Purina Flock Raiser... that can be fed from hatch to lay and is formulated at higher amounts of Niacin... I still keep brewers yeast on hand though as occasional mess ups in formula and feed production have happened...