Hope the lil one makes it.I wanted to share this one here quick in case anyone runs into this....
Last night I came home to a Muscovy egg pipping in the incubator. I couldn't believe it. This year, I've let some girls lay on their own clutches, but I've also collected eggs from my other girls to partially incubate. I then put them under a broody Muscovy hen with a week or two left. I must have marked the wrong egg as the pipped egg says 6/17 on it, which is the date I put them in the incubator. There's no way the chick would be formed to the point of pipping at 10 days. I'm sure this egg belonged to the group I put under a broody Scovie hen about 4 days ago.
Now you have the back story, the duckling broke free around 3am this morning. There was a large amount of brownish liquid (smells like old blood) around it, so it's now on a paper towel in the bator. The yolk has been absorbed, so perhaps it didn't fully absorb all of the blood from the veins before hatching (when assisting a hatch, this is absolutely critical to look for). And perhaps this is just due to the duckling being new and figuring out life outside of the egg, but it almost appears to have wry neck now. I left the duckling in the incubator and also left the humidity high (around 65-70). This way nothing will stick to it and if there is something more to absorb unseen to my eye, it can. I did consider wrapping the duckling in a wet cloth and keeping it inside the incubator, but I won't be around to observe it.
I don't expect survival at this point. It was a rough hatch and I don't like how the duckling is positioned outside of the egg at this time. If it's still alive when I get home, I'll assess it, clean it off, keep it dry and warm under a light, and get some vitamins/electrolytes in it.
