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

[HeatherKellyB]

I love these pictures and videos so much! They're the highlight of my day.

I've got another question. If you have a call duckling with a long and difficult hatch, do you do anything different for them? It was a full assist due to being malpositioned in feet over head. I used a qtip of rub a tiny bit of nutridrench along it's bill and it wasn't enjoying that at all once it finally got a taste. It's Day 27 and finally absorbed the blood so I was able to help it out. It's hatchmate hatched beautifully on it's own yesterday, Day 26. I'm most concerned about the eyes. I feel like it would be impossible to apply ointment to the eyes so is there anything special that you do, or should I just wait and see how it does? Thank you so much for your time

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I did use some coconut oil and water but i don't think that caused the problem. I feel like it just took so long to absorb everything so it was in the incubator with a peek hole for 3 days. The other one only got a safety hole and progressed perfectly

 

[WVduckchick]

I love these pictures and videos so much! They're the highlight of my day.

I've got another question. If you have a call duckling with a long and difficult hatch, do you do anything different for them? It was a full assist due to being malpositioned in feet over head. I used a qtip of rub a tiny bit of nutridrench along it's bill and it wasn't enjoying that at all once it finally got a taste. It's Day 27 and finally absorbed the blood so I was able to help it out. It's hatchmate hatched beautifully on it's own yesterday, Day 26. I'm most concerned about the eyes. I feel like it would be impossible to apply ointment to the eyes so is there anything special that you do, or should I just wait and see how it does? Thank you so much for your time

During an assist, I always try to clear any membrane from the eyes, because it’s so easy for it to adhere to the eyeball. One time it dried out on me, and I had to peel it off! It was fine afterward, but I felt like it had to hurt the baby. Gharth’s eyes looked weird for a few days. I used a cotton ball, dampened with warm water, and just wiped it several times over a few days. Once they get active and the down starts growing out, they usually manage to wipe it on their own.

New babies…. We need pics!

 

[Painted Calls]

During an assist, I always try to clear any membrane from the eyes, because it’s so easy for it to adhere to the eyeball. One time it dried out on me, and I had to peel it off! It was fine afterward, but I felt like it had to hurt the baby. Gharth’s eyes looked weird for a few days. I used a cotton ball, dampened with warm water, and just wiped it several times over a few days. Once they get active and the down starts growing out, they usually manage to wipe it on their own.

New babies…. We need pics!

And here I am all up in the shell while they're hatching, scrubbing their faces with a wet q-tip.

 

[Conan]

I should stop reading duck threads before I go to bed. I dreamt that I had to carry a clutch of freshly hatched chicks in my cargo pants pocket on one side, and 4 gnarly looking duck eggs (mid hatch) in my pants on the other side because the mom was no longer there. Oh, and I had to keep them against my skin to keep them warm. This was problematic, and they kept rolling down my legs, and almost falling on the ground.
Then I met @room onthebroom to rent her barn on the coast that she had for all my pants birds. Though I'm pretty sure that if roomie had a barn on the coast, that sh!t would be full of rescue animals already...

 

[Conan]

This might also have something to do with my ghetto pen blowing over, and Dinky coming up missing...I found him smooshed under a piece of plywood. I lifted it up, and he popped his little head up, and ran to me. He's totally fine, btw.

 

[Painted Calls]

This might also have something to do with my ghetto pen blowing over, and Dinky coming up missing...I found him smooshed under a piece of plywood. I lifted it up, and he popped his little head up, and ran to me. He's totally fine, btw.

Imagine if yours was the one with the umbrella. You wouldn't have found the pen at all. It would have flown away.

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

@Conan Glad Dinky is ok! A couple years ago I use to have a metal shed for the ducks but we had a really bad storm. The whole shed flew up in the air and crumpled. I was glad they weren’t in it at the time. Sounds like you had quite the dream too! The pants birds had me cracking up!

@HeatherKellyB we need some adorable pics of the new babies!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

During an assist, I always try to clear any membrane from the eyes, because it’s so easy for it to adhere to the eyeball. One time it dried out on me, and I had to peel it off! It was fine afterward, but I felt like it had to hurt the baby. Gharth’s eyes looked weird for a few days. I used a cotton ball, dampened with warm water, and just wiped it several times over a few days. Once they get active and the down starts growing out, they usually manage to wipe it on their own.

New babies…. We need pics!

Thank you. I wiped its eye late last night with warm water. One eye looks perfectly big and bright and the other one is slightly open but obviously not strong and healthy like the other. You're right, this eye was behind the membrane while the other was closer to the pipped area of membrane. I never noticed it stuck but that's probably what happened even if it was slight enough for me to not notice it, and was released without much force. It's still here and doing well. The other duckling just needs to bond with it so it's not crying out for me to hold it. I guess I learned a valuable lesson about snuggling an "only duckling" too much while waiting on hatchmates. It's certainly not that I mind snuggling it by any means. I believe these two are Black Bibbed. It's crazy and even difficult to remember how Lylah, Faith, Paisley, and Tallulah (desperately need a masculine name for this Drake and possibly Paisley but my daughter wants to leave his name as Paisley as he does seem to know his name) were this tiny just a couple of months ago!!! The Aztec ducklings already look gigantic compared to these two latest hatchlings

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Imagine if yours was the one with the umbrella. You wouldn't have found the pen at all. It would have flown away.

Nope! I've got it staked down pretty good with tent stakes. That umbrella will fold up before it takes off with the pen.