Plese HELP : Unborn duckling - I broke half the eggshell

[Papaye]

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 put the egg so the hen would not see the duckling.
But I will remember it for next time (if "next time" there is!)!

I have had chickens hatch ducklings and they do a very good job so let them have a try without interfering.

I did not have any other choice, since I understood my Brahma would not take care of the eggs anymore...
One of my other Brahma did the same not long ago, and I had to put the eggs underneath another broody hen to save ducklings! (I could then save two, thanksfuly.)

These two Brahma actually don't feel like they know how to be good mothers : they quit the nest much too soon, and they let me hold their babies...

I even wonder if the 3 ducklings are not dead in their eggs BECAUSE this Brahma hen did not keep humidifying the eggs...? (After the first ducklings hatched...)

I am sorry you lost those 3 hopefully the other has a good chance.

Thank you!!

I finally put 3 of the eggs underneath my broody Wyandotte : she already hatched 10 ducklings, but she likes to take her time to quit the nest after her babies hatch...
I hope at least one duckling is going to be born soon, since I heard peeping from one egg...!
(And I think I saw movements in an other egg when candling?!)

 

[Papaye]

Hi.

The eggs I put underneath my Wyandotte are dead.

When I opened them, I found two dead ducklings entirely formed, and one that was still in the membrane, and all bloody... (I did not verify in the membrane if the duckling was being already developped or not...)

I feel terribly guilty : I put these eggs underneath my broody hen hoping at least the one that was peeping would be saved, but I should actually have opened a safety hole in the egg before giving it to my hen... (Maybe then the duckling would have lived!)

I can only hope now when this Brahma hen will be broody again, she will finish taking care of her eggs until all the ducklings are born...!
(Will she actually learn...?)

In any case, that was a new experience for me... Terrible, but I now know better than to believe broody hens - at least the first-time broody - naturally know how to take care of their eggs and their babies...
(This Brahma hen wanted to feed her ducklings even though these babies were just born, did not even need to eat yet, and were too weak to actually walk the distance to their feeder...!!)

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm so sorry @Papaye.

 

[Papaye]

Thank you for your kindness, @Miss Lydia.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you for your kindness, @Miss Lydia.