Malpositioned chick

msdoolittle

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Well, this is actually in reference to a duck egg, but...anyway. My little ducks are both pipped (yay!), but one has pipped at the opposite end of the air sac. He is peeping, so I know it is getting air. Anyone else had an experience with a 'breech' chick?
 
I recently had an easter egger pip on the wrong end. It seemed to cause him a bit of trouble, I just watched him closely. At one point I had to give him a bit of help. Just watch his progress and be ready to help him if he doesn't progress in his hatch or gives up.
 
I have had numerous duck eggs pip the wrong end, 4 just this past week. About half of them do OK - with help, and the others have died. But give your fella some time to see if he can get out on his own before you try to help.
 
Thanks! I figured he would probably need some help at some point, but right now is the waiting game since he only pipped yesterday at about 8pm. These are going to be pet ducks so I do not mind helping them along should they NEED it. These eggs and I have really been through a lot together, lol, so I sure would hate to lose a duckling at this point in time. I got some great hatching info off of this site, so now I know more what to expect. How long do you typically give chicks until intervention? How long can they live in the shell w/o dying from starvation? I figured a couple of days?
 
I have never had them die from starvation, I think that would take quite a while. Some just die, for unknown reasons. You have a good timetable with your other one, see how long that one takes to hatch then go from there. If it's obvious that it will not hatch on its own, then try to help it out, but do it slowly. When this has happened to me, and I decide its time to help, I will first just peel the egg shell around the egg - leaving the egg liner and membrane. Then I will leave it for about 12 hours and see if this helps. If nothing is happening, I will then peel away the white egg liner, leaving the membrane - do it real slow as sometimes the membrane will stick to it. If I draw blood, I stop, that tells me its not ready to hatch yet. I will also take a Q-Tip and dab water on the membrane making sure it stays wet and pliable. They have a tendency to dry out or get sticky and you must keep it wet for the duckling to be able to get out. I will leave it again for another 12 hours or so, just dabbing it with water on the Q-Tip. If it still will not come out on it's own, then I will use the Q-Tip to slowly move the membrane over its back, so it can lift it's head, if it wants to, if not I will leave it in that position for a few more hours, before lifting its head out. I do try to always let the duckling come out of the shell by itself, it will if it's ready.
 
Thanks for the 'timetable'! As of about an hour ago, the second egg made a BIG crack in the shell, so it is progressing perfectly. I did try and work off a TINY bit of membrane, had a dab of blood, so I stopped, put it back and I'll wait until tomorrow. I really hate intervening, but I'm telling you, it is a sheer miracle that these guys even made it to hatching age...you should see my makeshift incubator! It's so embarrassing, I don't even want to post it, but it has kept them alive for 2.5 weeks, so I guess I did something right, lol.

I am really practicing the art of patience here!
 
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THEY'RE OUT! My #2 egg progressed perfectly and just hatched about 15 minutes ago! I did have to assist Duck #1, and there was still a very, very little amount of blood (probably 98-99% of all the vessels in membrane were gone), but I picked off a bit more shell, and sure enough, he was 'breech', with his head between his legs at the wrong end. Thank goodness I had one hatch normally, I have been on pins and needles for weeks, lol. I have it on video, too. YAY! My first poultry hatch ever. Sigh.
 

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