Pipping confusion

[KCNC06]

It does look kind of similar to that I think. I'll try to get better pictures in the morning. He only hatched a few hours ago so he's still in that really floppy neck phase. The way his legs were pinned up above his head in the egg, and the way he was screaming (for lack of better way of describing that bad peep), I was really worried he had injured himself struggling to get out. Then I saw his leg/foot and felt terrible. He's my 13th Pekin duckling to hatch now...seems like he may have gotten a bit of the unlucky.
I'm hoping there's some sort of boot or brace I can make for him that can at least help a little. My husband named him Forest. We were picturing some sort of duckling version of a Forest Gump leg brace.
Anyway. I'm not sure if this angle is different/better than the others. I'll try again in the morning. Hopefully he's feeling better by then. I bought a Snuggle Puppy for the ducklings last week. It's a stuffed puppy with a little battery powered heart inside, it makes a fairly realistic heartbeat sound. The puppy was a bit too big for Forest's "apartment" in the brooder, so I tucked it in a smaller stuffed animal and made a little stuffed animal cave for him to snuggle under. He seems pretty darn happy in there right now. (He can get out if he wants to. The back of the cave is open and he seems to be able to back up and flop around almost as well as any other newly hatched duckling I've seen.) I offered him a little bit of electrolyte water with a drop of nutri-drench and a finger tip dusting of nutritional yeast before I got ready for bed. Put it in a shallow bowl and tipped it up like a cup for him. He stuck his bill in and drank a few sips. I know they don't really *need* food or water this soon after hatching, but I figured with such a rough hatch and with this leg issue he might benefit from a little extra fluids. Definitely did not leave the water dish in with him though!

 

[Miss Lydia]

How the ducklings leg and foot today?

 

[KCNC06]

He was hopping around in his little brooder apartment biting at the screen wall while the other ducklings peeped at him. I gave him some more vitamin water with a finger tip of nutritional yeast, he bobbed his bill down to the bottom (not even nostril deep) to get the NY.
The leg seems stronger this morning. He can stand on it and looks fairly normal as he's bopping around. But the toes on his right foot look weird. At least I think they look weird. Maybe I'm just paranoid though? They look like they curve inward. He can press the foot flat when he stands up and it doesn't seem to bother him.
I can't tell if it looks like the leg is turned inward too. It's really difficult to get him to stay still. If I let him stand while I look at it, he jumps and tries to run away from me. If I hold him and let the leg hang, he yanks it up and tries to push off my hand. Basically he's acting like a completely normal duckling doing all the things the other ducklings do.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If something is wrong it must be pretty slight I can only see the web a little wrinkled. You could put him in a shoe for a few days if your worried. Easy to make using a plastic butter container or similar type bowl cut to fit the foot then wrap the plastic in vet wrap to cover the sharp edges. Place the foot on and wrap going up the ankle to keep the shoe on.

 

[KCNC06]

It doesn't look as bad as I thought it did last night. I'll try to keep an eye on it over the next day or two. I'm very glad to hear it doesn't look like anything bad. Or anything at all.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Now how about a look at the whole baby Babies!

 

[KCNC06]

Here's Forest sleeping on his heartbeat pile with Eggwyn, Desmond, Prudence, Michael and Egger on the other side of the apartment wall. Eggbert hatched overnight but he's still in the incubator with another Pekin egg who is tapping away at his shell. (We took this clutch of Pekin eggs from our broody mama because we kept finding dead ducklings in her nest. I called them the Eggmen...hence the "Egg" names. Except for Michael and Forest.)

 

[Miss Lydia]

How sweet! They sure look cozy

 

[KCNC06]

I brought Eggbert in with Forest. They're playing biting each other and peeping very happily. The other 5 are pressed up against their divider wall acting like they're so bored and lonesome.
My poor husband. Over the weekend I confessed that I think I've become a quack addict. He smiled and went back to working on this new brooder even though I told him it's just a temporary brooder. They'll outgrow it soon enough and move into the bathroom...and my husband will have to start showering outside again.

 

[Miss Lydia]