mothers going to kill ducklings... Externally pipped!!! Please help!

[animalz11]

Hi.
I have 2 muscovy ducks that are sitting on eggs (not Muscovy eggs), 2 have internally pipped and 1 has externally pipped, the first duckling hatched 3 days ago but was killed, the mother duck stood on it's neck and suffocated it, I was wondering if I should take the next ducklings that will hatch tomorrow away from the mother and raise them myself? The duckling that died was the first duckling they have ever hatched, in fact the first I have ever had hatch here. So I was wondering, to prevent more duckling hatching should I take them away from the mothers as soon as they hatch and dry off? I have a brooder and feed and everything needed but I wouldn't want to take away their ducklings when they've worked so hard for them, but I also don't want to see any more ducklings die when I could have saved them. Please help.. .What do I do?!

Also the duckling that dies still had it's egg tooth on it and died a day after hatching, apart from that, it was fine, no injury's, the only thing was that the egg cracked in the second week so I put candle wax over it and it continued to grow.

I actually had a panic when I candled the eggs a few minutes ago, one had internally pipped, I think I oculd see it's whole head in there and the egg had a crack in it, I was going to fix it with wax but the crack was coming from inside, so it has externally pipped aswell...

I don't have an incubator...

 

[animalz11]

Duckling is cracking egg more and more and I can make out the head and beak, as it taps the crack becomes more and more prominent... if I talk to it, it stops then peeps back.
Should I leave it with the mums?
I know I shouldn't have 2 ducks on the same eggs but they are very bonded and don't fight...

Also if I do leave it with the mums how could I ensure that the chick feed I put out gets eaten by the duckling/s not the mums? Because the mother ducks love it too...

 

[arcy liger]

dont let them out so that they wont step on them .. the chicks would be safe ....this is for the first time so they should need a little help(not much) dont touch them or the eggs

 

[Miss Lydia]

Duckling is cracking egg more and more and I can make out the head and beak, as it taps the crack becomes more and more prominent... if I talk to it, it stops then peeps back.
Should I leave it with the mums?
I know I shouldn't have 2 ducks on the same eggs but they are very bonded and don't fight...

Also if I do leave it with the mums how could I ensure that the chick feed I put out gets eaten by the duckling/s not the mums? Because the mother ducks love it too...

I know your anxious since you've lost one duckling already but try to sit back and watch and not handle the eggs so much, that maybe upsetting the mamas. and let the mamas and ducklings all have the chick starter, I feed it to my mama ducks and ducklings when they are hatched. it won't hurt the mamas and will help them get back to good health after sitting for so long. Unless you see out right attacks I'd not intervene, freak accidnets happen and thats what happened to the first duckling most likely. How many eggs are they sitting on and is the space their sharing big enough for them to move around in?

 

[jdywntr]

I agree with Miss Lydia. It sounds like it was just an accident. I think a duck that is intent on killing her offspring will do things other than step on them.
Yes, the chick starter is fine for all. It is better for the moms to have starter than the ducklings to have layer.

As asked, do they have enough room to move around? At this point I don't know that there would be anything that you could do about space.

 

[animalz11]

dont let them out so that they wont step on them .. the chicks would be safe ....this is for the first time so they should need a little help(not much) dont touch them or the eggs

Ok, they are all in a wooden hen house so there would be room for another six nests to give you an diea of size, it is about 1 meter square and they have small containers on grain and water, there was chick feed in there but mumma's ate that all...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ok, they are all in a wooden hen house so there would be room for another six nests to give you an diea of size, it is about 1 meter square and they have small containers on grain and water, there was chick feed in there but mumma's ate that all...

Well of course the mamas are going to eat the chick feed they get hungry . be sure to put out more chick feed after all ducklings have hatched they are usually hungry after a couple of days.
Have any more hatched yet? and honest its okay for mamas to eat the chick feed.

 

[animalz11]

I know your anxious since you've lost one duckling already but try to sit back and watch and not handle the eggs so much, that maybe upsetting the mamas. and let the mamas and ducklings all have the chick starter, I feed it to my mama ducks and ducklings when they are hatched. it won't hurt the mamas and will help them get back to good health after sitting for so long. Unless you see out right attacks I'd not intervene, freak accidnets happen and thats what happened to the first duckling most likely. How many eggs are they sitting on and is the space their sharing big enough for them to move around in?

Yes... very anxious... as I was reading this I had the hatching egg in my hands, so I just went to go put it back, mum throught I was going to take another so she moved over her nest more, but when I held up the egg to her ear she just stopped and listened as it peeped abd then she talked back and they had their own little conversation, if I talk to it it peeps back, it has made a 1cm crack and some membrane is showing and has been ripped (I didn't rip it, he did it all by himself), also I affectonately call it a he, easier to write...
Both mumma's are very affectonate towards their eggs and I couldn't imagine them sitting for so long and then hurting them. Last duckling was sitting under Daffyn, and Daffy tried to move it over like she does with the eggs, so she puts her beak in front of the duckling and then holds up because she doesn't know how to move it, it doesn't look like an egg... when Daffyn goes out for a drink of water, Daffy will sit on her nest and move her eggs across, and when Daffyn comes back, Daffyn will move some eggs over for her to sit on. They work it out very well...
I'm not sure how many exacally, sometimes 1 will have 5, and the other will have 7, so generally 12ish,...

Space is big enough to move around it. I've locked them up like what I would do at night as it is very windy here and we have brave crows who would happily steal a duckling. The ducks are in a metre by metre hen house with about the same sized run that they can get through via ramp and they have shredded newspaper as bedding (only in the hen house not either of the runs), outside of the first run is another run about the same size so there is plenty of space for mumma's. Before they didn't want to come out because the male would chase them back in but now that the male has moved on to a better place (he's not dead just someone elses home) they have no reason to stay inside but I think they still maintain the mindset that the run is safe so they have only rarely come out...

Duckling started cracking it's egg at 9 last night, figured 12 hours should be enough but it has only made a 1cm crack, but when I was holding it before I could feel it pecking, I didn't rotate the egg so it was moving on it's own... one other egg has just externally pipped and the other is in the air sack but I can hear tapping on the shell so almost...

I must admit, I got a nail file and lifted back a small bit of the membrane to have a peel and I could only see wet downy fluff but it looks a good size and healthy from what I could see...

Thank you so much for getting back to me!

 

[animalz11]

I agree with Miss Lydia. It sounds like it was just an accident. I think a duck that is intent on killing her offspring will do things other than step on them.
Yes, the chick starter is fine for all. It is better for the moms to have starter than the ducklings to have layer.

As asked, do they have enough room to move around? At this point I don't know that there would be anything that you could do about space.

Yes but how can I ensure that the mums don't eat it all before the duckling can have some? Should I feed it separetly but still in view from the mums, like hold a container near the duckling and block the mums from eating it. I gave the mums a bettle each before so they still like me... heh heh...

 

[jdywntr]

Ducklings should have free access to feed for at least the first 2 weeks. You should leave food down all the time.