huge duckling in egg, trying to get out

[duckyfei]

Hi guys, it’s 12am here and i have early work tomorrow but this little one has me extremely worried, any quick replies are super appreciated. it’s beak is outside of the egg and it keeps pushing upwards, like he wants to squirm out. there’s still HUGE blood vessels on the other side of the egg, and also a couple on the pipped side. it looks like it’s trying really hard to breathe…. i’m not sure what to do, do i help? do i leave it? i’ve lost 3 ducklings during the hatching stage after external pips in the past 3 days and i don’t want to lose this little one.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Leave it be. It already has a large air hole and it needs time since there are blood vessels. If you start assisting now you are in danger of causing your duckling to bleed out. The pressing against the shell is a normal and long process. Hatching is exhausting and it's normal for them to be breathing a lot. If it looks like it is gasping for air/yawning it actually means it's still absorbing the yolk and needs more time. Your duckling looks to have already made great progress.

 

[NatJ]

I’m extremely worried and losing hours of sleep over this, what could i do

At present, it probably needs the same things as any other duckling in the first few hours: to stay the correct temperature, finish drying off, take a lot of naps, and flop around practicing how to use its muscles.

Since it just absorbed the yolk, there is no need to worry about feeding and watering just yet. I would not provide a water dish at present, because it's more likely to drown than to drink.

You might just make sure it's safe and has the correct temperature, and do other things for a few hours (take a nap, or go to work, or do the dishes & laundry, or whatever else your day calls for.)

It’s paddling around, legs don’t seem to work. the belly also has an open wound and it is not moving well. it’s a little fighter, but it has cataracts and doesn’t react to any light at all. i’m 90% sure it’s blind, but i’ve never brought up a blind duckling before and i have brought up and imprinted one, at that.

Some of that may be normal for a just-hatched duckling, rather than indicating a problem.

But if it does have as many problems as you think, there may be internal problems as well. Raising it might be difficult, or might even be impossible.

It's still too early to really be sure. So start with the obvious (safe place, correct temperature), and re-asses regularly to see how it's doing.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Thanks heaps. I didn’t mention that that duckling takes up a huge part of the egg… and the egg is one of the smaller ones, like the size of a chicken egg. i’m worried it might not be able to breathe well

A healthy fully developed duckling should take up most of the egg. It can be quite surprising to see the size of some ducklings that come out of smaller eggs. If you see active blood vessels think of it as a big red stop sign. If you start removing shell it will break those veins that are still connected to your duckling and when they break your duckling loses every drop of blood that comes out. If you decided to step in and assist wait for those blood vessels fully dry up first. Is this your first time hatching? It can be nerve racking the first few hatches especially if you have already experienced losses.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Looks like you are having the same issue I did my first batch
I incubated my girls eggs when she first started to lay and they were small
Out of 6 eggs 4 needed assistance and 2 were a bit bigger eggs did it themselves
I lost 2 one helping to much to soon and one bruised the wrong end and I got to scared to help
I learned a lot from that batch
It looks like your little one is at the wrong end of the egg
I had this happen too. To big to get turned
How long ago did baby pip ? Being in the wrong end there would be no air cell so it would be straight to external pip. Baby still needs the same time frame to absorb so instead of 24-48 hours after external you need to add 24 hours of the internal time
So now 48-72 hours
My little one I was able to help at the wrong end took 52 hours and she still had a little yolk that took another 2 hours to absorb
Be patient and let baby absorb
Baby has plenty of air and that’s the most important
You can take a q tip and gently run it over the beak area to make sure there is no egg gunk covering the beak
That’s all I would do for now

 

[duckyfei]

Could it just be he has goo from the egg in it
How much yolk is left
Can you take a picture of the yolk and his eyes ?

i’ve attached the photos below. he’s a little fighter.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

i’ve attached the photos below. he’s a little fighter.
View attachment 3390457

I see a ton of egg goo on baby
The yolk looks to be gone just a bit swollen tummy ( normal )
Can you get that goo off baby
Warm wash cloth
It will harden like cement
I had this happen once at the school hatch
We had to keep washing baby till we got it all off

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I agree with the cup also if you have any original Neosporin take a Q tip and dab it right where the umbilical cord was. When a duckling hatches with unabsorbed yolk there is a higher chance of it becoming infected until it fully heals up. As far as the eyes go it's hard to tell from the pictures it might be blind or the other possibility is that some membrane dried on and stuck. I have had several ducklings hatch with small piece of the membrane that dried to the eye when hatching and it does look like they are almost blind. I use Terramycin on a Q tip to remove the membrane for those ducklings.

 

[duckyfei]

A healthy fully developed duckling should take up most of the egg. It can be quite surprising to see the size of some ducklings that come out of smaller eggs. If you see active blood vessels think of it as a big red stop sign. If you start removing shell it will break those veins that are still connected to your duckling and when they break your duckling loses every drop of blood that comes out. If you decided to step in and assist wait for those blood vessels fully dry up first. Is this your first time hatching? It can be nerve racking the first few hatches especially if you have already experienced losses.

oh yes it indeed is my first time ever hatching. such a nerve racking experience, both excitement and heartbreak. it’s unpredictable! thank you heaps for your help though, and i’ll let you know how the little one is tomorrow!

 

[duckyfei]

Looks like you are having the same issue I did my first batch
I incubated my girls eggs when she first started to lay and they were small
Out of 6 eggs 4 needed assistance and 2 were a bit bigger eggs did it themselves
I lost 2 one helping to much to soon and one bruised the wrong end and I got to scared to help
I learned a lot from that batch
It looks like your little one is at the wrong end of the egg
I had this happen too. To big to get turned
How long ago did baby pip ? Being in the wrong end there would be no air cell so it would be straight to external pip. Baby still needs the same time frame to absorb so instead of 24-48 hours after external you need to add 24 hours of the internal time
So now 48-72 hours
My little one I was able to help at the wrong end took 52 hours and she still had a little yolk that took another 2 hours to absorb
Be patient and let baby absorb
Baby has plenty of air and that’s the most important
You can take a q tip and gently run it over the beak area to make sure there is no egg gunk covering the beak
That’s all I would do for now

The little one was foamy in the mouth and nose with some mucus this morning, so I took only the top half of it out, did NOT break any blood vessels at all. He ended up SQUIRMING himself out just a couple minutes ago… the yolk hasn’t completely absorbed, so i’ve just left him in the incubator. Hes opened his eyes and is peeping very very loudly. It looks like both eyes have huge cataracts in them and he looks like he’s a blind baby