Survivor Muscovy Eggs!? May need help to keep them alive!

[ckykitty949]

Ok, so here's the story... I purchased batches of Muscovy eggs on *June 30th. They both arrived on July 3rd. I had a cheap styrofoam cooler all rigged up with a light on a dimmer and computer fan blowing air from the outside in. I left the eggs out @ room temp for 6 hours with pointy side down, than immediately put them in the incubator which we were still getting dialed in a bit. We left and didn't get home till the *5th of July.
On arrival the incubator temp read 105 degrees. The min & max for the incubator was a max of 107 and a minimum of 99.5 (temp when we left). I have no idea for how long the eggs stayed @ 107 for, but I pretty much decided they had to all be dead. I made a new incubator out of an old fish tank I had and lined it all with insulation. Put in a very low heat pad, and 2 types of lights. Also put 3 thermometers inside and 3 computer fans. I was now able to get the precise temperature I needed.
*Saturday, July 6th: I candled all the eggs and realized that one was alive! In shock and awe I was so excited. When I woke up Sunday morning to candle it, it must have died, b/c I didn't see veins in it anymore. Still not giving up, I've been turning the eggs 3 x a day.
*Tuesday, July 10th (7 days I re-candled all my eggs. I found 9 eggs ALIVE! Somehow 9 of 15 survived the extreme temperatures in the very beginning?!

Are there any special pre-cautions I should take into account? Or will all of them probably die anyway? The only explanation I can think of in order for them to survive is that the thermometer was reading from the front closer to the bulb, which enabled the ones in the back to stay alive? Please let me know comments, suggestions, etc. This is my first time since I was a little girl to try and hatch some eggs.

 

[sumi]

Welcome to BYC! The higher temperature may result in the chicks hatching a day or 2 sooner than expected, so when they get close to their due date keep an eye on them, so you can bump up the humidity for the hatch. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your ducklings. Keep us posted!

 

[ckykitty949]

Ok I definitely will keep you posted! That's great news that some may indeed survive. Thank you for the reply!

 

[ckykitty949]

Newest update! I think I'm having issues with my Muscovies internally pipping... Yesterday morning was day 31 and I noticed 1 egg of 4 start rocking. I candled it but didn't see the bill in the air sack yet. At this time I bumped up humidity to 60-80% and had temp at around 96.5. (I also have a 90 gallon fish tank in the same room as the incubator and I live 5 miles from the beach.) As the day progressed I candled 2 more times. I saw the duckiling keep trying to get into the air cell. Its bill was moving up and down underneath the membrane. (As far as I could tell) I also have not heard any peeping from it. Today I checked it again, and it seems to still be moving like it was yesterday, but not as vivacious. I have had issues from day 1 with incubating from high highs of 106 to low lows of 94! So these remaining eggs are lucky to have survived. At this poin I am thinking of interveing and poking the side of the air cell to make sure it can get out. Since its been over 24 hours of movement and no external (and probably no internal) I think this guy needs some help. Someone please give me some advice ASAP!!!

 

[sumi]

Create an artificial pip hole above the air sac line (candle to check where it is), as close as possible to the duckling's beak. Don't make the hole to big, just big enough for you to see into and work if needed. The easiest and safest way to create this hole is by scoring an X over and over on the shell with a sharp object, like a small drill bit, until you can break through the shell, then take a pair of tweezers and carefully open the shell and make the hole bigger by chipping off bit of shell. Grab a little bit of the edge of the shell with the tweezers and squeeze it. That way you can break off small pieces without cracking the shell too much. Be very careful and try not to touch the inner membrane until you know what the situation is in there. Once you are in, clear the duckling's bill, so it can breathe. If you need to puncture the inner membrane, take a wet Q-tip and dampen the membrane first, so you can see where the blood vessels are. Be very careful around the vessels, so you don't damage them.

 

[ckykitty949]

Thanks for that advice! That's exact ally what I ended up doing last night! The duckling wasnt internally pipped, which I found very odd b/c I could see it's bill going up & down in the membrane for 2 days. I don't know if he was too weak to pop through it or what. But I opened the membrane a tiny bit & saw blood so I put him back in & checked on him this morning. I wet the membrane and was able to make a hole just tiny enough to give him some air. Throughout the day he worked his way practically out of it. I assisted in moving some off his eye though. He is currently sleeping in his egg, but can tell he is getting antsy to come out. I also was able to feed him/it a tiny bit of pedialyte from a q-tip. His mouth and tounge were moving all around and I couldn't figure out if it was b/c of dehydration. But I'm hoping all will still go well!

 

[sumi]

How is it doing now? Any progress?

 

[ckykitty949]

It was doing great until early this morning. I got up at 4am & again at 8am. Between that time the baby got itself into trouble. I was planning on putting it into a brooder this morning, but it seems my cat got his arm in the incubator holes at the bottom and really scratched the baby duck. It was all covered on hard cardboard at the bottom, but with the extreme humidity it's been deteriorating and somehow my cat got its dirty paws in there and really did damage on the little guy! I didn't think he was going to make it. The whole day went by and it survived. Later at night we tried to force feed it pedialyte and it drank some down and looked like it was getting some energy back. About an hour later as I was assisting my other duck egg, & he died. I buried him in my plumeria so we wiill always still have a part of him with us.

So the only remaining eggs I have are 4 silkies which I think prob only 2 will come out alive, and my one last duck egg, which is trying to get through it's shell now. I am assuming that is a no fail egg.