Help! what else can I do???

[Jaymie]

so today is day 24 of incubation, 6/30 hatched. and while no other chicken eggs are pipping, moving, and with signs of NOTHING...I decided to try opening to see what went wrong. I now have a LIVE duck in my chicken bator, that I broke open to see after candeling and no movement. there was always the chance that this egg could be a duck...I had no idea ducks were a 28 day incubation, and this will be my first baby duck!! I want to give it the best chance in life. It is only partway out of the shell, as I didnt want to drag it out with yokesac I know it wont have absorbed yet. So now thehead is out, I sprayed warm mist on her, anything else I should/ could do???

 

[BunkyB]

That is a pretty close call. Sorry to hear that. If the duckling seems to be ok leave the rest of the shell on its bum to let it absorb as much of the yolk sac as possible.If your incubator has a fan in it you should keep an eye out for the next few days and keep the duck as far away from the fan as possible so the shell does not dry onto the duck making it difficult to remove.

The inner membrane when dried out can be a bugger to peel off . Keeping it moist is a good idea but don't over do it tho...Since the duck was due to hatch in a few more days you may get off without too much damage. It is a sticky situation you are in but try not to feel too guilty. As long as the duck is mobile and not dried out it stands a better chance of survival. If the rest of the membrane and shell are still stuck to the duck after day 28 you will probably have to help finish the pip and gradually break the rest of the shell away.

Thinking more on this I would put the duck in a facecloth to help prevent the duck from sticking to the bottom of the bator as well. If he sticks to the facecloth you can always dampen the facecloth with warmish water and it should peel away easily enough.

The best of luck to you. I have my fingers crossed and pray for a successful hatch. As for the other eggs you say seem to have no activity I would candle right away again and see if there is any movement and even put the egg to your ear and listen for pipping. If the chicken eggs are this far along the temp in the bator may have been a tad low thus causing a longer incubation period or the humidity may be too low.

If you hear the chicks pipping you may have to help them out as well by starting the pip, especially if there IS activity in the eggs. Take a deep breath and allow mother nature to take over... Be careful as well just in case you have bad eggs as it really stinks if the egg is bad.The eggs can literally explode and the smell ain't pretty.

Steve

 

[Jaymie]

Thank-you Steve! Thats a great idea to place on a face cloth...I'm on that right away! The duck is out both of the shell and membrane half way before she moved (Oh my!, she's alive!!!), so the cloth will help alot. I'm guessing for it to be damp may be the way to go...but just barely, as she's still quite wet. My bator probably is a bit cooler...should I turn up the heat some now? it shows low of about 95, but goes up to 97.9