help! sick baby Muscovy duckling

[jadeduck]

I have a baby duckling which is 4 days old. it was hatched in an incubator and was 4 days later then the other ducklings. however one other was hatched on the same day. he was struggling to get out of the egg so we ended up helping him out as he was dried to the inside of egg and he was covered in all hard sticky stuff- almost like hard gel. we bathed him and got him dry and decided to put him bcak in the incubator overnight with the other one that had also hatched that day. he has barely eaten since his came out but is drinking water. have tried duck starter, chick starter, lettuce, weetbix-mixed with water and he just seems to not be able to swallow anything but his always looking for food and bitting our skin as if his hungry. please if anyone has any suggestions. help?

 

[jadeduck]

the other ducking that hatched on the same day is completely fine and the sick one seems okay. but he is just still so tiny and doesn't eat. and comparing him to the other one hatched on same day he is half the size.

 

[casportpony]

Keep him warm and maybe get some baby bird food, mix it with lots of Pedialyte and see if he'll drink some food. My last batch were like yours and need help to get out of the shell and then didn't eat or drink on their own for several days, so I kept dipping their bills into just water and then the baby bird food. Did he absorb his yolk correctly?

 

[jadeduck]

okay thanks for your help- unsure if he ate his yolk. that's the 1st time we have hatched ducklings in the incubator as the mother was taken with 2 weeks to go- so not 100% sure on what's meant to happen etc.

 

[casportpony]

okay thanks for your help- unsure if he ate his yolk. that's the 1st time we have hatched ducklings in the incubator as the mother was taken with 2 weeks to go- so not 100% sure on what's meant to happen etc.

They don't actually eat the yolk, it's absorbed during the last stages of the hatching period.