Preparing to set call and pekin duck eggs! Hatch day should be March 4, 2021 if all goes well!

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

I just wanted to share a picture of the first two. The dark one is #1 and the yellow is #2. #1 will soon be referred to as Telulah or Paisley. #2 will be referred to as Lylah or Delilah.

@WVduckchick
View attachment 2622309

So sweet! They are so adorable! Congrats!
Sorry I wasn’t on I’ve had a hectic day. Glad the other one hatched.

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

@HeatherKellyB how many eggs do you have left? Was it just the one that you couldn’t locate the bill or did you have others? How’s that one doing?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'm sorry for being so needy. I tend to go into panic mode ridiculously early/easy. Thank you all so much for everything! I'm really grateful for the knowledge and support on this thread.

So I had 5 eggs that were looking great. I'm not sure what happened to one of them but I did lose one. So far, 3 have hatched and there's one left. This is the one that I thought died but I was wrong. I had trouble finding the bill/beak (which one is correct? I see both but my daughter always corrects me whenever I say beak ~ she's 9 years old, going on 90!) but after some amazing advice from this thread, I eventually found it and cleared it. This one externally pipped on it's own. I need to look back to figure out exactly when that happened. I still notice it's doing something with its mouth so I'm worried it's chewing and/or yawning aka indicating it's not ready to hatch. I am able to see in areas around this duckling but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking at. The last one to hatch did eventually have some minor shrink wrapping to the side of the face and around the neck. I worry this last one may suffer the same fate. Thankfully because of this thread, I was able to free the last duckling with coconut oil and warm water.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I'm sorry for being so needy. I tend to go into panic mode ridiculously early/easy. Thank you all so much for everything! I'm really grateful for the knowledge and support on this thread.

So I had 5 eggs that were looking great. I'm not sure what happened to one of them but I did lose one. So far, 3 have hatched and there's one left. This is the one that I thought died but I was wrong. I had trouble finding the bill/beak (which one is correct? I see both but my daughter always corrects me whenever I say beak ~ she's 9 years old, going on 90!) but after some amazing advice from this thread, I eventually found it and cleared it. This one externally pipped on it's own. I need to look back to figure out exactly when that happened. I still notice it's doing something with its mouth so I'm worried it's chewing and/or yawning aka indicating it's not ready to hatch. I am able to see in areas around this duckling but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking at. The last one to hatch did eventually have some minor shrink wrapping to the side of the face and around the neck. I worry this last one may suffer the same fate. Thankfully because of this thread, I was able to free the last duckling with coconut oil and warm water.

Work on the areas of membrane covering the eye/nostril areas first if there are no active veins there. Peel it back until you
Get it to the point it can push itself out and then leave it be.
Oh, and a duck has a bill.
But I say beak too sometimes.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Here's my new (late) baby, and then with the others hatched 2 days ago.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

(I don't have beautiful, womanly hands. And I hate fingernails. So please excuse my torn up hands. )

 

[HeatherKellyB]

(I don't have beautiful, womanly hands. And I hate fingernails. So please excuse my torn up hands. )

Congratulations! They're absolutely adorable! How many did you have to assist with?

My hands look horrible and I actually ended up deleting a picture that shows some of the worst parts. I have psoriatic arthritis and plaque Psoriasis, so my joints look horrible from my immune system attacking them and my skin looks dirty all the time (like some mechanics hands) because my immune system attacks my skin too. Plus I usually clean my big ducks foot with chlorhexidine between bandaging and that removes every bit of oil from your skin. My hands stay so dry and things like digging up earthworms with my big ducks causes nasty looking stains because my skin is so dry and cracked. Before I started on Xeljanz (an immunosuppressant) I had a huge patch of plaques that covered the entire front of my lower leg. This was the largest but there were other smaller one. Anytime I'd wear anything other than pants and long sleeved shirts, people would act like I was a burn victim or had something possibly contagious wrong with me. Now I just look dirty I do enjoy using the colorstreet nail strips but it draws attention to my dirty looking hands. Life certainly keeps us on our toes, right? It could be worse so I shouldn't complain so my apologies.
Your hands don't look bad at all, in my personal opinion.

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

I'm sorry for being so needy. I tend to go into panic mode ridiculously early/easy. Thank you all so much for everything! I'm really grateful for the knowledge and support on this thread.

So I had 5 eggs that were looking great. I'm not sure what happened to one of them but I did lose one. So far, 3 have hatched and there's one left. This is the one that I thought died but I was wrong. I had trouble finding the bill/beak (which one is correct? I see both but my daughter always corrects me whenever I say beak ~ she's 9 years old, going on 90!) but after some amazing advice from this thread, I eventually found it and cleared it. This one externally pipped on it's own. I need to look back to figure out exactly when that happened. I still notice it's doing something with its mouth so I'm worried it's chewing and/or yawning aka indicating it's not ready to hatch. I am able to see in areas around this duckling but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking at. The last one to hatch did eventually have some minor shrink wrapping to the side of the face and around the neck. I worry this last one may suffer the same fate. Thankfully because of this thread, I was able to free the last duckling with coconut oil and warm water.

I agree with the advice that Shaw gave you.
You’re not being needy, I’m glad you’re here. The call duck experts have helped me out time and time again!
Three have hatched? So excited!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Congratulations! They're absolutely adorable! How many did you have to assist with?

My hands look horrible and I actually ended up deleting a picture that shows some of the worst parts. I have psoriatic arthritis and plaque Psoriasis, so my joints look horrible from my immune system attacking them and my skin looks dirty all the time (like some mechanics hands) because my immune system attacks my skin too. Plus I usually clean my big ducks foot with chlorhexidine between bandaging and that removes every bit of oil from your skin. My hands stay so dry and things like digging up earthworms with my big ducks causes nasty looking stains because my skin is so dry and cracked. Before I started on Xeljanz (an immunosuppressant) I had a huge patch of plaques that covered the entire front of my lower leg. This was the largest but there were other smaller one. Anytime I'd wear anything other than pants and long sleeved shirts, people would act like I was a burn victim or had something possibly contagious wrong with me. Now I just look dirty I do enjoy using the colorstreet nail strips but it draws attention to my dirty looking hands. Life certainly keeps us on our toes, right? It could be worse so I shouldn't complain so my apologies.
Your hands don't look bad at all, in my personal opinion.

My boys want me to go to the doctor for my hands but I don't really want to.
This just started happening to me the past 3 months, so I'm sorry you've had to deal with this so long!
I assist every single call duckling. At least none of the other birds I hatch are so "needy" except my Marans... I have to give them safety holes sometimes too. I've been incubating my Marans in their own separate incubator and that cuts down on the safety holes.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I finished my article.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/assisting-call-duck-hatches.76507/