Plese HELP : Unborn duckling - I broke half the eggshell

[Papaye]

Hi.

Sorry : I am copying my thread from the Ducks forum, since I think I should actually post it here :

"Please help : I just broke half of the eggshell of an unborn duckling.

I thought he could not get out of his egg alone, since egg was half broken yesterday, and the hatching stopped since then...

When I broke the eggshell this morning, duckling did not move. I don't know if he is just sleeping or dead...
He is ready to be born (brothers and sisters got out), but I think the yolk sac is still attached?

What do I do?
I just put the duckling with half the egg still aroung underneat the broody chicken!!
(I can not incubate!!)

Help, please!!"

AND :

"God... I have at last 2 other eggs that started hatching, but then stopped...

Mama has just quitted the nest, so I put these eggs underneath another broody hen.

Do I help the duckling to get out?
Hatching started two days ago already...

Are they dead? I don't hear them, or see them move...

What do I do?!

I feel so stupid..."

 

[Papaye]

Just to say : duckling I broke half the eggshell is not moving when I try to wake him up.
I think he is dead, but... is he?

 

[Papaye]

Here is the duckling I tried to hatch myself this morning :

...Do I have to understand he is dead, or should I assume he may just be sleeping?

Here is an egg I would like to help the duckling to hatch :

What do you think?
Do I help...?
Is me, or does the membrane look dried...?

Here is the third egg I think I should help to hatch :

Help is welcome, because I'm afraid waiting for too long will actually kill the babies.

...These are eggs I put underneath a broody Brahma hen on April 25th.
They have started to hatch on May 22th, being two day ago...

 

[Papaye]

I just opened the two other eggs (just a bit) - since I'm worried about the ducklings...
They are entirely formed, but don't move neither or peep...

For now, the eggs are underneath another broody hen.
But if I don't see any evolution, I'm going to get rid of them in some hours, since today, I am going to receive fertilized egg for this hen... and so, put them underneath her.

Any advice would be appreciated.

If I do something about the eggs, I will continue to precise it here... but I need help : it a first for me to have entirely formed ducklings die in their eggs...! (If they are dead?) And 3 ducklings for 16 eggs... that is a lot!
(My Brahma eventually succeeded to hatch ONLY 6 babies for these 16 eggs!!)

(How could THREE ducklings die during hatch when incubation is actually natural...?
What do I do about the other eggs? Do I open them to see if they have formed ducklings inside? ...Would they have a chance if I let them underneath my hen?)

 

[DemeterAD9]

If all the other ducklings have hatched and these two have stopped moving and chirping then they are likely goners. Chicks that are alive should respond to sound and touch when hatching out. I would suggest you pull the chick out the rest of the way in the first egg to see if it is alive and then try chipping away at the fat end of the second egg so you can get a good view of the duckling. If you see movement, yolk and blood vessels then put them back under the hen and re check in a few hours.

Check this out for better details.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

 

[Papaye]

Thank you!!

I just did like you recommended, and got rid of the eggshell I let around the duckling.

He is dead.

He actually was still warm to the touch, but one eye was closed, the other semi-closed and wet...
His head - I don't know if it is normal - was positioned bill on his back, and not on his chest... (Maybe he died because of that...?)
Yolk was attached, yellow, and seemed to be humid...?
And smell started to become bad - so I could not hope anymore he was only sleeping...

(I did not take any picture : I just got rid of the duckling after taking him out of the egg.)

Don't know exactly why he died...

...Thank you for the link.
I am going to read, then go work on my two other eggs...

(I feel so guilty... I should have helped them yesterday! Maybe I could have saved them!!)

 

[Papaye]

A bit pressed for time, I read the important parts of the article in a hurry, then have gone outside to open the second broken egg...

This duckling was also dead.
He was entirely formed, still warm to the touch, bathing in (liquid) yolk, and... bleeding from his nostrils! (What does that mean?)

I did not have the courage to entirely open the egg before getting rid of it...

 

[Papaye]

Third egg : duckling dead...

He had the yolk still attached, and one eye semi-closed...

...I don't know how I could lost 3 duckling ready to live like that... That really never happened before, and I did not even think it could happen with natural incubation...
(The ducklings are Indian Runners...)

That has seriously been my worst hatch rate ever...!

Is it bad luck, or is my Brahma just a bad broody hen...? That is her first time hatching eggs...

 

[Papaye]

UPDATE :

My Brahma hen has actually hatched 7 ducklings - and not 6... (I found the 7th just now...!)

Also, I can hear peeping from an egg I put underneath my broody Azur hen, so I hope I can save at least one little baby...?
If the duckling is not born today, I will put the eggs underneath another hen - or my Brahma that just hatched these eggs, or my Wyandotte that also just hatched duck eggs...

...Thank you again for your post, @DemeterAD9!

 

[Miss Lydia]

One thing you don't want to do is put an egg under a hen if yolk is not absorbed and showing chickens will most likely begin pecking at it.
I have had chickens hatch ducklings and they do a very good job so let them have a try without interfering.
I am sorry you lost those 3 hopefully the other has a good chance.