last hatchling won't dry in incubator

[pip205]

Hello!
The last hatchling came out of the egg - it's been 7 and a half hours and it's still not dry. the other ducklings are already in the brooder. we're wondering if we keep the little guy in the incubator or put him with the others - if with the others, do we need to be concerned that he might get trampled or bullied? he's still very sleepy and may have gotten a bit trampled just after he came out, before we moved them to the bathtub brooder. we've read that some people put a partition up but our bathtub is the brooder so not sure we can do that.
thanks so much!

 

[NatJ]

The last hatchling came out of the egg - it's been 7 and a half hours and it's still not dry. the other ducklings are already in the brooder. we're wondering if we keep the little guy in the incubator or put him with the others - if with the others, do we need to be concerned that he might get trampled or bullied? he's still very sleepy and may have gotten a bit trampled just after he came out, before we moved them to the bathtub brooder. we've read that some people put a partition up but our bathtub is the brooder so not sure we can do that.
thanks so much!

If he is still sleepy, maybe leave him in the incubator for a bit longer, so he does not get stepped on while he's trying to take naps. But in general, if they are all the same size and they have enough room, trampling is not usually a big problem.

If you have been adding water to the incubator to raise the humidity at hatching time, there is no need to add more after the last one hatches. The duckling may dry faster if the humidity goes down.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If you have a clear shoe container you could place the duckling in it to let it finish drying if it's nice and warm in the brooder. That way it can recover without being trampled. It will not need food and water for at least another day. Put a soft cloth under the duckling in the shoe container so it has good traction when up and walking.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Have you handled the duckling? I've had some that looked wet but the fluff had just dried crusty for some reason. I washed them off with a damp washcloth and placed them back in the incubator and a few hours later they were poofy.