Successful 1st Hatch....Sorta

[Tremor]

We had six Blue Swedish duck eggs from my own duck and drake due to hatch November 5th and 6th. On Election Day we had one duckling hatch; a yellow/grey (will grow grey) duckling which we named Brock (a play on Barack).

The next day we had another duckling beginning to break the egg. Because of the information we had read online we decided not to help the duckling hatch even after 6 hours until our duck expert arrived. We were terribly lucky that this duckling came out alive because it was so dried out.

We ended up cautiously naming this little guy, "Quinn". We were not sure whether or not Quinn would survive because s/he was so dried out due to the humidity in the incubator. We ended up having to douse him in water after he was hatched.

After we took him out of the incubator we did NOT put both ducklings together as Brock was twice the size as Quinn.

The other ducklings did not hatch. It was my elective decision to crack the other eggs open; only to find that every one of them had ceased growing at least a week before hand and were deformed.

Last Saturday we discovered that Brock, our largest duckling had passed away in the night. Our biggest theory is that he died while eating boxelder bugs and chocked on one.

This past week we have been focusing on Baby Quinn and have realized that Quinn has in fact imprinted on me. Its quite humerous and I tend to feel really bad when I have to put him away and back in his brooder.

However, I have noticed that Quinn has an ounce of respect for me when he lays on me and cuddles. He waits to poop until *RIGHT* after I put him on the ground. I consider that a success.

Any who, pictures.

Quinn. Quinn-igan. Quinnie. Quinnie-poo. (Whichever name fits my mood.)



and our baby Brock, who passed last Saturday.



Daddy (Harper, the black drake) and Mommy (Emery, the grey duck)

 

[Miss Lydia]

We had six Blue Swedish duck eggs from my own duck and drake due to hatch November 5th and 6th. On Election Day we had one duckling hatch; a yellow/grey (will grow grey) duckling which we named Brock (a play on Barack).

The next day we had another duckling beginning to break the egg. Because of the information we had read online we decided not to help the duckling hatch even after 6 hours until our duck expert arrived. We were terribly lucky that this duckling came out alive because it was so dried out.

We ended up cautiously naming this little guy, "Quinn". We were not sure whether or not Quinn would survive because s/he was so dried out due to the humidity in the incubator. We ended up having to douse him in water after he was hatched.

After we took him out of the incubator we did NOT put both ducklings together as Brock was twice the size as Quinn.

The other ducklings did not hatch. It was my elective decision to crack the other eggs open; only to find that every one of them had ceased growing at least a week before hand and were deformed.

Last Saturday we discovered that Brock, our largest duckling had passed away in the night. Our biggest theory is that he died while eating boxelder bugs and chocked on one.

This past week we have been focusing on Baby Quinn and have realized that Quinn has in fact imprinted on me. Its quite humerous and I tend to feel really bad when I have to put him away and back in his brooder.

However, I have noticed that Quinn has an ounce of respect for me when he lays on me and cuddles. He waits to poop until *RIGHT* after I put him on the ground. I consider that a success.

Any who, pictures.

Quinn. Quinn-igan. Quinnie. Quinnie-poo. (Whichever name fits my mood.)



and our baby Brock, who passed last Saturday.



Daddy (Harper, the black drake) and Mommy (Emery, the grey duck)

Very sweet pics, so sorry you lost Brock . Can baby Quinn not be with mama? It's always so sweet when ducklings bond with humans but they still need duck time to learn how to be a duck. [with supervision of course. ]

We had a situation a year ago My Muscovy ducks hatched one duckling and for some reason tried to kill it, we ended up bring Him inside and raising him till 3 months old, but everyday he had outside time with all the other flock members .

 

[Tremor]

Very sweet pics, so sorry you lost Brock . Can baby Quinn not be with mama? It's always so sweet when ducklings bond with humans but they still need duck time to learn how to be a duck. [with supervision of course. ]

We had a situation a year ago My Muscovy ducks hatched one duckling and for some reason tried to kill it, we ended up bring Him inside and raising him till 3 months old, but everyday he had outside time with all the other flock members .

I ma unsure whether or not Quinn can be with momma or not, but this was her first year laying and she is not at all fond of humans. Its also pretty cold. I wouldn't put it past her or my drake to peck at Quinn an ultimately killing her.

BTW; We did attempt to vent sex Quinn and I am pretty sure that Quinn is a SHE!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I ma unsure whether or not Quinn can be with momma or not, but this was her first year laying and she is not at all fond of humans. Its also pretty cold. I wouldn't put it past her or my drake to peck at Quinn an ultimately killing her.

BTW; We did attempt to vent sex Quinn and I am pretty sure that Quinn is a SHE!

Well congrats on gender. If at all possible I would still let Quinn with supervision have duck time outside with the other ducks even if you just made a little place only she could be in, it's so good for them to be around their own kind. Of course a female house duck would be better than a drake house duck.

 

[desertdarlene]

I wouldn't put Quinn with mama until he's a bit older and when you do, it shold be supervised visits at first. Quinn actually thinks you're her mama right now.

Sorry that Brock didn't make it.

 

[Tremor]

Thanks for the comments.

At the moment we are contemplating whether or not to take Quinn back to school.

At school:

1. She won't get the one-on-one socialization like she would with me at home. She LOVES to cuddle with me and at school she wouldn't be able to.

2. She won't have access to water to bathe in.

3. Kids don't care. We firmly believe that Brock passed because he was constantly picked on by my classmates. I did have numerous signs up about the ducklings being held and bothered; but can high school boys read?

NO.

At home:

1. She can get socialized.

2. She can swim in our bath tub and prene her feathers.

3. She won't get poked and prodded by cruel junior boys.

Anywho, here's some pictures of my girl:




Sitting on her favorite perch (Beware, I was tired. lol)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks for the comments.

At the moment we are contemplating whether or not to take Quinn back to school.

At school:

1. She won't get the one-on-one socialization like she would with me at home. She LOVES to cuddle with me and at school she wouldn't be able to.

2. She won't have access to water to bathe in.

3. Kids don't care. We firmly believe that Brock passed because he was constantly picked on by my classmates. I did have numerous signs up about the ducklings being held and bothered; but can high school boys read?

NO.

At home:

1. She can get socialized.

2. She can swim in our bath tub and prene her feathers.

3. She won't get poked and prodded by cruel junior boys.

Anywho, here's some pictures of my girl:




Sitting on her favorite perch (Beware, I was tired. lol)

If you think being handled was the cause of Brocks death why would you even consider taking Quinn back to school, sounds and looks like she has it made where she is. You are her mommie and she would probably die with out you to care for her. Sweet pics too.

 

[Tremor]

If you think being handled was the cause of Brock's death why would you even consider taking Quinn back to school, sounds and looks like she has it made where she is. You are her mommie and she would probably die with out you to care for her. Sweet pics too.

Exactly! The ducklings were meant to be a school project for my Agriculture Teacher's middle school exploratory, freshman, and sophomore classes. All have to do with exploring agriculture and getting kids involved. As a senior and FFA officer I thought it would be a cool thing to share the experience of hatching ducklings and raising them.

In my opinion, a lot of them have lost the privilege.

I had talked with my mom about returning her and she agrees with me.

I think the plan is to keep her at home and when she gets bigger take her on trips to see the elementary children. The video of the ducklings hatching (Well....Brock) went viral around the school district and if Quinn is up to it when she's old enough we would like to take her to visit them.

That's the extent of how much *I* want her at school.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Exactly! The ducklings were meant to be a school project for my Agriculture Teacher's middle school exploratory, freshman, and sophomore classes. All have to do with exploring agriculture and getting kids involved. As a senior and FFA officer I thought it would be a cool thing to share the experience of hatching ducklings and raising them.

In my opinion, a lot of them have lost the privilege.

I had talked with my mom about returning her and she agrees with me.

I think the plan is to keep her at home and when she gets bigger take her on trips to see the elementary children. The video of the ducklings hatching (Well....Brock) went viral around the school district and if Quinn is up to it when she's old enough we would like to take her to visit them.

That's the extent of how much *I* want her at school.

Sounds like an awesome plan keep us updated.