bellalovesducks
In the Brooder
- Jul 7, 2024
- 5
- 5
- 12
So our welsh harlequin hen incubated eggs on her own. They were doing perfect up until the external pips. One egg ended up pretty smushed because momma got nervous and stepped on her. This is our first time hatching eggs so we figured to just let her be and she would take care of it.. well it ended up making it somewhat out of the egg but it passed away to what I’m assuming was shrink wrapping. The other egg seemed to be on tract until this one got stepped on as well. We think they may have broke because we didn’t put down a nesting pad and enough wood shavings considering the bottom of her enclosure is hard plastic. Anyway we carefully tried to keep an eye on this egg and the outer membrane stayed milky white for about 12 hours but then it started to turn brownish yellow so we decided to intervene. When we did this the duckling was completely enclosed in the egg and I wasn’t sure if it was getting oxygen considering it wasn’t moving or peeping, although we never heard either of them peep throughout the time from internal pip to coming out of the egg. Keep in mind momma wouldn’t let us get very close we could’ve missed if. We added coconut oil and I made sure to make a hole where I saw it’s beak but it’s nostrils seemed to be tucked under the wing. I saw that there was still yellow at the bottom of the egg along with blood vessels running halfway up the egg. I put it back under momma duck with the duckling still enclosed in the Membrane but with a hole smaller than a dime around its beak. Then this morning we came and found that it’s head was still in the same position but half of the duck was now out of the egg, dry, and fluffy. It still didn’t seem to be moving but we were quite confused because we thought it had died but how would it push out of the egg? There are still blood vessels that haven’t seemed to receded much more but it looks like there’s less yolk at the bottom. Mom is still being attentive to this duck versus her abandoning the first egg that had died and another quitter about half way through her incubation. Today I reapplied coconut oil and freed up more space where there were no blood vessels and I’m hoping for the best although it doesn’t seem likely. Is there a chance it’s still alive considering the blood vessels and movement since last night? How else should I assist? What can we do in the future to help momma get a higher humidity during hatching? Any advice, thoughts, or suggestions would be helpful and greatly appreciated. Thank you
(Both pictures were from last night)
(Both pictures were from last night)
