So something went wrong with my incubator and 10/11 muscovy eggs died.
I managed to aid one to hatch almost completely.
She is very small and weak, she can barely stand (now almost 3 days old)
She has almost no interest in food and flicks it out of her beak if I try and tempt her. I have to drip feed her warm water mixed with bits of food the size of grains of sand.
She has done a few poos that are mainly white liquid.
She's bright eyed but has now developed a pant, to the point where she struggled to drink in between panting.
She has a heat bulb and a heat mat. The heat mat is under a thick layer of newspaper and a tea towel so it's not overly warm. I use the heat mat as back up at night - as I was traumatised a year or so ago after my bulb had blown in the night, killing my chicks at the time.
There is space for her to move away from the heat, her nares are totally clear but when I hold my ear to her throat/chest I can hear clicking.
I have turned the heat mat off tonight, because I'm worried the warm coming from underneath is giving her issues...
I'm so stressed. I turned those eggs 3 times a day for nearly 6 weeks because she was so late. I also just lost some runner duck eggs at the same time. And today my 2 Ancona chicks that were so tame and gorgeous - a male and female that I hatched myself - got killed by something in their little day time run.
I feel so sad. I just sat in the cold in the dark in my garden searching for them with a dim head torch. Hoping they were still alive hiding somewhere.
I can't bare anything else dying. I've had the worst day ever. I can't stop crying.
WHY I STILL INCUBATE BABIES I DO NOT KNOW, it's more stressful than rewarding...
Please could some one give me some advice on my little duckling, Hercules.
I love her to bits and she's been so brave, but I feel I'm losing her.
I managed to aid one to hatch almost completely.
She is very small and weak, she can barely stand (now almost 3 days old)
She has almost no interest in food and flicks it out of her beak if I try and tempt her. I have to drip feed her warm water mixed with bits of food the size of grains of sand.
She has done a few poos that are mainly white liquid.
She's bright eyed but has now developed a pant, to the point where she struggled to drink in between panting.
She has a heat bulb and a heat mat. The heat mat is under a thick layer of newspaper and a tea towel so it's not overly warm. I use the heat mat as back up at night - as I was traumatised a year or so ago after my bulb had blown in the night, killing my chicks at the time.
There is space for her to move away from the heat, her nares are totally clear but when I hold my ear to her throat/chest I can hear clicking.
I have turned the heat mat off tonight, because I'm worried the warm coming from underneath is giving her issues...
I'm so stressed. I turned those eggs 3 times a day for nearly 6 weeks because she was so late. I also just lost some runner duck eggs at the same time. And today my 2 Ancona chicks that were so tame and gorgeous - a male and female that I hatched myself - got killed by something in their little day time run.
I feel so sad. I just sat in the cold in the dark in my garden searching for them with a dim head torch. Hoping they were still alive hiding somewhere.
I can't bare anything else dying. I've had the worst day ever. I can't stop crying.
WHY I STILL INCUBATE BABIES I DO NOT KNOW, it's more stressful than rewarding...
Please could some one give me some advice on my little duckling, Hercules.
I love her to bits and she's been so brave, but I feel I'm losing her.
