I cracked my daughters duck egg.

[Mybestlife]

My daughter is at FFA state convention. I had one job to do. Move her SAE duck eggs to lockdown! I dropped one while taking out the turner and it is cracked badly. Now what?

 

[SilverBirds]

Do you have a picture? It can still hatch if the cracks aren't that bad.

 

[Cynthia12]

If not bad, I hear that some use a crayon to seal it. Others will come in with other ideas.

 

[Mybestlife]

 

[Cynthia12]

View attachment 3071843

Not too bad..smear a crayon across it..thick.

 

[Kiki]

It's lockdown time?
I'd do nothing to the egg if I were you.

 

[SilverBirds]

I don't think they mentioned lock down.

Move her SAE duck eggs to lockdown!

 

[Cynthia12]

It wouldn't hurt to put some on, even at lockdown. I've done it, they've hatched.

 

[Cynthia12]

Yeah, I reread.

 

[Lizzy733]

Since they're moving to lockdown, this may not be a concern. Cracking is an issue as it can introduce bacteria and allow the chick(or in your case duckling) to dry out, but they'll be born soon anyway and usually humidity is set higher for hatch to prevent drying anyway. If it was a long or hard fall, however, I'd be more concerned with internal trauma from the fall.

With exotic and rare bird eggs, patching a minor crack with nail polish is not unheard of. For 'holes' I've heard of people boiling chicken shells to soften them, then cut them to fit over the hole and use polish to join them up. I'm sure you probably won't need to take such measures, but they are good to know. I've never needed to resort to them personally.

I would recommend looking into 'shrink wrapped chick' and 'assisted hatches' just in case as jostling at this stage may affect their hatch positioning and, as mentioned, they will be at higher risk of drying out with a crack in the shell

If you need to raise humidity in the brooder, just remember that more surface area, not more water does the trick, so a damp paper towel will get you further than overfilling reservoirs. - another good to know if you do end up needing to open the incubator and assist during a hatch, though I'd only do this if one is in immediate danger of something like drowning or suffocation.