Praise The Lord, baby ducky hatched!!!

[DuckDuckPromise]

Hi!! Praise the Lord, our first incubated baby ducky hatched!! Yay!!!
Now. When should the baby be gotten out? How quickly can we hold the sweet baby? What kind of bedding do you all suggest for newly hatched duckies?!
So many questions, I’m sorry!!!

I know (or figure at least) that she (he) shouldn’t be held for very long right now, since it will need to be kept warm. Right now the baby ducky is still in the incubator! I appreciate y’all’s help, sorry for all of the questions! Praying y’all have a blessed night!!!

 

[Isadora]

Are there other eggs that are going to be hatched? You can leave the baby in the incubator for 24 hours after hatching if you need to because of other hatchlings. If it's the only baby you could take it out whenever you want it.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Congratulations! Does this duckling have hatchmates that will be hatching soon or is it joining a flock? You can take the duckling out of the incubator as long as your brooder is already warm and ready.

 

[Isadora]

As for your other questions, you can hold the duckling whenever. It's not like it has to be a certain age before it's "OK" to hold them.
For bedding for my ducklings I used large wood chips. But really a variety of bedding is acceptable, whether it's pine shavings, straw, etc

 

[DuckDuckPromise]

Congratulations! Does this duckling have hatchmates that will be hatching soon or is it joining a flock? You can take the duckling out of the incubator as long as your brooder is already warm and ready.

Thank you so much!!! There were 3 other eggs in the incubator, but they really didn’t show any sign of progression... Praise the Lord, we are thankful for this one!!! I’m not too sure yet what we will do for his company! Thank the Lord, we do have ducks, all big ducks. Lord’s Willing, I would love to give this baby to my sister though, she has lost all of her Cayugas (that is what this baby is.) She has ducks and geese too!! But maybe Lord’s Willing, we could go get two from the local feed store to keep it company for now...
thank you for reading all of my crazy questions!

 

[DuckDuckPromise]

As for your other questions, you can hold the duckling whenever. It's not like it has to be a certain age before it's "OK" to hold them.
For bedding for my ducklings I used large wood chips. But really a variety of bedding is acceptable, whether it's pine shavings, straw, etc

Oh YAY!! That is exciting!! All of the articles I read never really said when to get them out of the incubator... or when you could hold them! Snuggle duck
Wood chips. Got it!! Any certain type that is larger than others that you would suggest? THANK you so much!!!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

You have water available that's shallow enough that the duckling won't drown, right? They can get themselves into the oddest of situations so keep any and all possibilities in mind when thinking about ways the duckling can become hurt. I don't let my daughter hold our ducklings until they're about a week old. She's welcome to hold them when I'm cleaning their brooder before then, but that's done quickly. The last time I had a lone chick that needed to be held, I used a heating pad on my chest and stomach and let the chick hang out in a makeshift cave I rigged while I was holding it, so it would stay warm. I use puppy pads with no slip shelf liner on top to help them get traction as they build those muscles up, right after hatch. This substrate enables them to see the food and not mistake it for bedding. As they get older, I use large flake pine shavings. What breed ducklings are you hatching? I am referring to bantam ducklings and in my mind they're more delicate (they're probably not). As long as you don't keep the duckling away from the heat and allow it to get cold, as long as there are no problems with the naval, you can hold it