Red ants inside almost-hatched egg!

[Amykins]

Smell and candle if still not sure but handle carefully. and I'd give the duckling a bit more time before trying to help, if peeping is still strong, And remember with ducklings they work hard at hatching then rest so if you don't hear peeping don't freak out it just maybe resting.

Yeah...to be honest, if it was bitten the damage is done, and if it WAS envenomated, the added trauma of being removed from the shell too early could be too much for the lil' guy to handle. If he's peeping, it's a good sign. Man, I can't even imagine how hard it must be for a baby bird. Imagine if a human baby had to bust out of a clay pot, and then add fire ants on top of that?! Man, the fact that he's still going strong shows that he's a fighter!

 

[Miss Lydia]

lina, waiting for an update?

 

[lina500]

No ants to be seen and she's still cheeping!

 

[Miss Lydia]

No ants to be seen and she's still cheeping!

Great news, are the eggs still under mama duck? this is critical, keep the eggs under mama so humidity stays where it needs to be very important after external pipping has begun. And good news about the ants.

 

[lina500]

Yep, the eggs are still under mama duck, although they felt a bit cold when I checked. It's all relative, I guess, as it's 80 degrees with 65% humidity in the air right now anyway (and this is winter!)

We noticed the external pip nearly 24 hours ago. The suspense is killing me!

Not sure about the other eggs. Because one already exploded, they all have a little bit of a bad smell off of them, so it's hard to figure out which is bad that way. I cleaned out the house pretty well last night. Can I float test them to see which is bad? As of yesterday, I think one more was still alive, but the others were pretty opaque looking when I candled them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yep, the eggs are still under mama duck, although they felt a bit cold when I checked. It's all relative, I guess, as it's 80 degrees with 65% humidity in the air right now anyway (and this is winter!)

We noticed the external pip nearly 24 hours ago. The suspense is killing me!

Not sure about the other eggs. Because one already exploded, they all have a little bit of a bad smell off of them, so it's hard to figure out which is bad that way. I cleaned out the house pretty well last night. Can I float test them to see which is bad? As of yesterday, I think one more was still alive, but the others were pretty opaque looking when I candled them.

Whats going on now? as for float testing If it was me I'd do a bit of research first. not sure .

 

[lina500]

She has not made as much progress as I would have hoped in the last 12 hours, but she's made some. She had her bill stuck out of the hole and was opening and closing her mouth, it was very cute! Mama duck is still on the nest. I candled all of the eggs and one more is definitely alive. There are another 8 or 9 that are developed but I can't tell what's going on in them. There was one that was unfertilized so I got rid of that one.

I'm just praying the ants don't come back!

 

[Miss Lydia]

She has not made as much progress as I would have hoped in the last 12 hours, but she's made some. She had her bill stuck out of the hole and was opening and closing her mouth, it was very cute! Mama duck is still on the nest. I candled all of the eggs and one more is definitely alive. There are another 8 or 9 that are developed but I can't tell what's going on in them. There was one that was unfertilized so I got rid of that one.

I'm just praying the ants don't come back!

They take their sweet time that's for sure, but as long as she is sticking her bill out and able to breathe that's good. just a matter of time now. When I candle I can usually see the duckling/chick moving around till it gets closer to hatch then the egg is dark and only the air cell shows up Hopefully you'll not have another explosion. My dh was in Vietnam during that war and asked if these are the same ants they have, he said if you even barely brushed up against a tree they would be on you biting the fire out of you. He said not a big ant but red.

 

[lina500]

Yes, they are probably the same. They call some of the red ants here 'Vietnamese ants.' We have three or four different types of biting ants in our yard, there are big red ones that are half an inch long. One time I saw our last duckling running around like crazy and when I went to check it out he had 7 or 8 of these giant red ants on him and one was biting his vent. Poor little guy. But the little red ants (the ones that were coming out of the egg) are actually much worse for bites.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes, they are probably the same. They call some of the red ants here 'Vietnamese ants.' We have three or four different types of biting ants in our yard, there are big red ones that are half an inch long. One time I saw our last duckling running around like crazy and when I went to check it out he had 7 or 8 of these giant red ants on him and one was biting his vent. Poor little guy. But the little red ants (the ones that were coming out of the egg) are actually much worse for bites.

I'd see about getting some kind of safe poultry dust and using it on the ants mounds before you have little duckling out there running around. here when we have a yellow jacket nest in the ground my dh will pour gas into the hole in the evening when they have gone in for the night those bees will kill too. I hate he uses it but we can't leave them where they would get on one of our animals. I had them attack me before it's awful.

Been meaning to ask do ya'll still have your geese? hadn't seen you mention them in a while.