Our Muscovy hen has had a bizarre hatch. First duckling born last Sunday, then one two days later, then two more ducklings two days later. Yesterday a fifth had pipped (in the right place) but mama was definitely done with her nest and ready to be teaching her newborns the ropes. Wanting to give #5 a chance, we brought it to the incubator. After it making little progress but still pecking furiously we gently helped it by picking a few pieces of shell away with tweezers and leaving the membrane intact. After it broke through the membrane but was still struggling a few hours later, we removed a few more pieces of shell (no membrane). It then successfully completed the hatch on its own, pushing itself through the rest of the membrane and out of the shell, and it seems perfectly healthy, including the whole yolk sac absorbed. It is chirping and shivering and biting at the washcloth in the incubator--very active. Should we be concerned about shivering? I figured maybe that was part of the drying off process. Incubator Temp 99, humidity 80%. My main question is: if it lives (and it does seem healthy), now what should we do with it? Its oldest sibling has a full week's development on it. Mama and her 4 babies were moved to have access to a protected outdoor area today. I live in Virginia and right now our daytime highs are near 90 and our nighttime lows can be as low as mid 60's. We are so thrilled that it has made it this far and want to handle the next steps appropriately if it continues to thrive in the incubator until tomorrow morning. (Already 5:30PM so obviously it stays inside for now.) Thank you in advance for any help!
