Mallard duck doesn't have a hatching tooth

[ktoellner]

Hello!

I am hatching ducks in my classroom. This is my sixth time hatching, and something new has happened.

One of my mallards pipped two days ago. He has made a bigger hole but does not appear to be zipping. When I candled all the mallards, they all had the "saddle" air sac from shipping. Two of the four have hatched (one hatched at the opposite end). This one pipped at the correct end, but he has made his hole bigger within the last few hours, but it is going down the side (following the saddled air sac) rather than zipping around. He hasn't made any progress in hours. He has kept his beak out of the shell the entire time and has made no attempt to zip. He seems to have lost his tooth or didn't have one in the first place. I'm not worried that it's been so long, because I have had them take 4 days to complete a hatch after pipping. I am worried because he seems to be missing his hatching tooth. Also, the membrane is turning tan.

Do I assist the hatch?

Thank you!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How's it going? If you see no blood I would slowly help it. If there's blood in the shell yet it's still absorbing the yolk.

 

[ktoellner]

I assisted. There was no blood at all. He was more than ready to come out. He acted really strange when we put him back in the incubator. He was shaking and flopping around constantly and uncontrollably. The other duck in the incubator wanted nothing to do with him. He had kicked off the rest of the shell while still in my hand. He was also in a weird position in the egg. We stayed until the custodian had to close the school. I was very worried he was going to die in the night. But when I got to school the next day, another had hatched and all 3 were cuddled up acting completely normal! I was very relieved. Is that behavior normal after an assisted hatch? Should I have done something differently? I feel like I caused him a lot of stress.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Could be he was cramped for a bit too long. It turned out alright which is great news. You often need to use your gut feeling to whether to help or leave them be. Pulling them out too soon can be deadly, so caution is always the best option. Congratulations.

 

[ktoellner]

Thank you! I wish I had followed my gut with the last egg. He hadnt moved or pipped at all. But I candled him on Friday morning and he was breathing in the air sac, and I could feel him tapping. The incubator was too low, so I gave it all day to warm up and hoped that was the reason. When he still hadn’t done anything I pipped for him but there was no sound or movement by then. It looked like the membrane had shrunk around him. I wonder if he lost too much humidity from opening the incubator trying to save the other. I wish I had helped both at the same time.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Yeah, seems like I always make wrong decisions too on such matters. With hatching I find it doesn't hurt to help them pip or to enlarge the pip hole to see what's going on. The more experience you get the better you get at making those decisions. The hard lessons you learn with poultry definitely stick and they alter your ways of doing stuff. Sorry you lost the one.

 

[ktoellner]

I opened up his egg today. He was upside down, his beak wasn’t fully formed, the yolk wasn’t absorbed, and his head seemed to be so wrapped around the rest of his body that I don’t know how he would’ve hatched or been able to breathe had I been able to pip for him at the other end. I was seeing his foot/knee kicking in the air sac. As hard as it was to open him up, I’m glad I did. I learned a lot and I believe that there was nothing I could’ve done.