My ducking is at a standstill in the hatching process for 3 days now! 😟

[AmyA248]

Good morning friends,

My little duckling is at a standstill.
He has a quarter sized hole done and then stopped.
He’s peeping and most definitely alive.
I had to remove another bag from lockdown but it took 1 second.
I was told to take a q-tip and soften his membranes with olive oil so he doesn’t dry out, which I did.
Everything looks fine but today is the 4th. day.
I’m getting worried..
There was no bleeding when I oiled his membranes and the inside of the egg is completely dry of any fluid.

Humidity is 76% and temperature is 99.

Any suggestions???

Thank you so much.
Blessings,
Amy

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Could you see any veins when wetting the membrane ?
Did he make this hole himself or did you help ?
If he made it all himself then he could be stuck as they normally go around the egg
I have had one make a big hole in one area and needed help
I picked the shell away like a zip and above his head and mine pushed out itself
Just needed a little room to get out

 

[SilverBirds]

Is he still making chewing motions? Can you see any veining or the yolk sac?

 

[AmyA248]

Could you see any veins when wetting the membrane ?
Did he make this hole himself or did you help ?
If he made it all himself then he could be stuck as they normally go around the egg
I have had one make a big hole in one area and needed help
I picked the shell away like a zip and above his head and mine pushed out itself
Just needed a little room to get out

Hi my friend!!!

How are you?

Well, I had to make a safety hole, waited 36 hours and nothing, so I picked it a bit bigger so I could see his position in case he turned.
As you can see the little bugger is right there with his beak sticking out just peeping away and rolling around, so I had to prop the egg.
When I oiled him there were no membranes, veins or bleeding. The inside of the egg was very dry so I thought maybe he was stuck, but now he’s lubricated well.

You know, not ONE of my Muscovy eggs have been able to hatch without assistance!
I put my foot down once and only made a small safety hole and let it be, and it died.
I did an eggtopsy and nothing was wrong.

I can’t understand it! It has been a very difficult journey.
My chicks just pop out, never a problem at all. But my ducks have caused me so much stress and worry!
I don’t want to have to assist, as it’s not natural, but it comes down to life or death.

My girl started laying on January 23rd and has not stopped yet.
My incubator is overflowing with staggered ages of eggs, so I’ll be raising babies for months bc she won’t go broody no matter what I do.
I’ve tried to leave at least 5 eggs with her and she just scatters them.
It’s funny because she dug out a nest and put a lot of work into it, (not her brooder of course)
I put her eggs in it and waited. The next morning she had scattered them again and won’t sit. I know she won’t sit until she’s done, but she’s NEVER DONE!
I had to separate her indefinitely from my drakes, as I can’t continue to incubate, hatch and raise these precious babies myself.
I have a life. Lol!
What could be wrong?
Why can’t ANY of my little ones hatch on their own?
We were not even giving her oyster shell when she laid these eggs that are close to hatching, I can’t imagine how much harder it will be with the eggs she laid while having the supplement oyster shell!

And one more thing, we work SO hard to care for and love our ducklings, they love us back on the FIRST day, but after that they run away from us and it breaks my heart!
I spoil them so much and love them, sing to them, give them tons of toys, and do everything I can for them, but they don’t want anything to do with me.
I’m the main caregiver and I’d think they would realize that.
I’ve had lone ducklings that I had to be a surrogate mommy and they never imprinted with me, all except for one who was crippled, blind in one eye and had a neurological condition.
I had to carry her in a sling all day and hand feed her. She imprinted with me. She passed away at 2 weeks from a seizure right in my arms. I was absolutely devastated!

I know I went off track, but I consider you a friend and you always help me!
Sorry so long!

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Hi my friend!!!

How are you?

Well, I had to make a safety hole, waited 36 hours and nothing, so I picked it a bit bigger so I could see his position in case he turned.
As you can see the little bugger is right there with his beak sticking out just peeping away and rolling around, so I had to prop the egg.
When I oiled him there were no membranes, veins or bleeding. The inside of the egg was very dry so I thought maybe he was stuck, but now he’s lubricated well.

You know, not ONE of my Muscovy eggs have been able to hatch without assistance!
I put my foot down once and only made a small safety hole and let it be, and it died.
I did an eggtopsy and nothing was wrong.

I can’t understand it! It has been a very difficult journey.
My chicks just pop out, never a problem at all. But my ducks have caused me so much stress and worry!
I don’t want to have to assist, as it’s not natural, but it comes down to life or death.

My girl started laying on January 23rd and has not stopped yet.
My incubator is overflowing with staggered ages of eggs, so I’ll be raising babies for months bc she won’t go broody no matter what I do.
I’ve tried to leave at least 5 eggs with her and she just scatters them.
It’s funny because she dug out a nest and put a lot of work into it, (not her brooder of course)
I put her eggs in it and waited. The next morning she had scattered them again and won’t sit. I know she won’t sit until she’s done, but she’s NEVER DONE!
I had to separate her indefinitely from my drakes, as I can’t continue to incubate, hatch and raise these precious babies myself.
I have a life. Lol!
What could be wrong?
Why can’t ANY of my little ones hatch on their own?
We were not even giving her oyster shell when she laid these eggs that are close to hatching, I can’t imagine how much harder it will be with the eggs she laid while having the supplement oyster shell!

And one more thing, we work SO hard to care for and love our ducklings, they love us back on the FIRST day, but after that they run away from us and it breaks my heart!
I spoil them so much and love them, sing to them, give them tons of toys, and do everything I can for them, but they don’t want anything to do with me.
I’m the main caregiver and I’d think they would realize that.
I’ve had lone ducklings that I had to be a surrogate mommy and they never imprinted with me, all except for one who was crippled, blind in one eye and had a neurological condition.
I had to carry her in a sling all day and hand feed her. She imprinted with me. She passed away at 2 weeks from a seizure right in my arms. I was absolutely devastated!

I know I went off track, but I consider you a friend and you always help me!
Sorry so long!

A few things
If there are no veins you can pull more shell back and see how things look
Watch for chewing motions as well
As for all needing assistance this is what I had told you before
She is new to laying. Her eggs will be smaller then what they will be in a few months and this will lead to big baby and little egg means they can’t turn to hatch
I myself learned this with my first hatch I had the exact same issues
Her eggs should be getting bigger so those babies should hatch fine
As for broody she is young this may not happen for awhile
If you want to encourage broody then stop picking up the eggs and let her figure things out how she wants to
When you remove them she will continue to lay
You don’t have to incubate every egg she lays unless you want a ton of babies

 

[BelovedBirds]

A few things
If there are no veins you can pull more shell back and see how things look
Watch for chewing motions as well
As for all needing assistance this is what I had told you before
She is new to laying. Her eggs will be smaller then what they will be in a few months and this will lead to big baby and little egg means they can’t turn to hatch
I myself learned this with my first hatch I had the exact same issues
Her eggs should be getting bigger so those babies should hatch fine
As for broody she is young this may not happen for awhile
If you want to encourage broody then stop picking up the eggs and let her figure things out how she wants to
When you remove them she will continue to lay
You don’t have to incubate every egg she lays unless you want a ton of babies

And plus, with all the tons of hatchling, will come lots of little boys, which could leave OP out of ratio

I would personally cease incubating until mama duck is a little older and her eggs are a better quality for hatching. And even then perhaps not hatch too many! If you don't feel comfortable eating the fertilised eggs, @AmyA248 you could always feed them back to the ducks- they love them! And the calcium from the shells are a great boost for the adult females.

 

[AmyA248]

A few things
If there are no veins you can pull more shell back and see how things look
Watch for chewing motions as well
As for all needing assistance this is what I had told you before
She is new to laying. Her eggs will be smaller then what they will be in a few months and this will lead to big baby and little egg means they can’t turn to hatch
I myself learned this with my first hatch I had the exact same issues
Her eggs should be getting bigger so those babies should hatch fine
As for broody she is young this may not happen for awhile
If you want to encourage broody then stop picking up the eggs and let her figure things out how she wants to
When you remove them she will continue to lay
You don’t have to incubate every egg she lays unless you want a ton of babies

Lol!
I certainly do not want this many babies! As much as I love them it is just an overwhelming amount of work!

We have tried MANY times not to collect her eggs, if we did we would have approximately 80 eggs. Ugh! Can you imagine??
We have left them with her to see if she would build a clutch and sit, but each time she just scatters them and lays them wherever they drop out.
We have tried to put them in her brooding box and she kicks them out and they break.
We have tried to put them in the hole she dug, (which gave us some hope) and continued to add to the nest with every egg she laid, and just waited to see what she would do, and waited 10 days until we knew that they were expired, took them out and continued to try. NO LUCK no matter what we try.
Yes, she’s too young and doesn’t get it.
Now I have to decide what I’m going to do.
Now that she’s separated from the Drakes hopefully the laying will stop.
We now have our female Pekins in with her and they are getting along wonderfully!!

As for our pokey baby, I’m REALLY worried!
He has no desire to come out at all.
I’m afraid he’s going to starve or die of thirst by this amount of time.
I’ll peel away a little more of the shell, maybe if he can actually see he will want to come out.
There are no vein’s that I can see, but I’ll let you know after I chip away a little more.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Lol!
I certainly do not want this many babies! As much as I love them it is just an overwhelming amount of work!

We have tried MANY times not to collect her eggs, if we did we would have approximately 80 eggs. Ugh! Can you imagine??
We have left them with her to see if she would build a clutch and sit, but each time she just scatters them and lays them wherever they drop out.
We have tried to put them in her brooding box and she kicks them out and they break.
We have tried to put them in the hole she dug, (which gave us some hope) and continued to add to the nest with every egg she laid, and just waited to see what she would do, and waited 10 days until we knew that they were expired, took them out and continued to try. NO LUCK no matter what we try.
Yes, she’s too young and doesn’t get it.
Now I have to decide what I’m going to do.
Now that she’s separated from the Drakes hopefully the laying will stop.
We now have our female Pekins in with her and they are getting along wonderfully!!

As for our pokey baby, I’m REALLY worried!
He has no desire to come out at all.
I’m afraid he’s going to starve or die of thirst by this amount of time.
I’ll peel away a little more of the shell, maybe if he can actually see he will want to come out.
There are no vein’s that I can see, but I’ll let you know after I chip away a little more.

I'm a little confused, if you don't want all these babies why do you keep incubating them?
Do you not want to eat the eggs, or feed them back, for some reason? You don't have to hatch them if you don't want to!

It's unlikely the baby will die of hunger or thirst, after the yolk is fully absorbed, they can go 2 or so days without food or water.
Any chewing or yawning motions?

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Eggs that have not been sat on or incubated are not a baby and therefore safe ti eat
Duck eggs are better for you and make things you bake using them much fluffier and lighter
I sell my eggs for eating to people I know who only wants duck eggs now
They are also very good to feed back to the ducks or cats , dogs ect
As for not laying because she is away from the boys
Boys don’t start or stop egg laying
Only part they play is fertilizing
She would lay eggs if you had zero drakes
I would imagine she will lay now till winter
I have a few girls who started last April and are still laying not missing a day in a year
First year they can lay through winter but seeing as she started in January she may break by then
Now back to baby
Yes start picking the shell from around his head and check for veins
If none then continue till his head area is free so he can push himself out
Be careful as he may do this in your hand so you need to be ready

 

[BelovedBirds]

Eggs that have not been sat on or incubated are not a baby and therefore safe ti eat
Duck eggs are better for you and make things you bake using them much fluffier and lighter
I sell my eggs for eating to people I know who only wants duck eggs now
They are also very good to feed back to the ducks or cats , dogs ect

I second this, duck eggs are amazing. My girls eggs converted me from vegan to v*eggan!
I love them in cakes especially. Best cakes I've ever eaten

And the girls happily eat the rest. They love their eggs, go mad for them!