the duckling is worse today.
its like hes fading, or doesnt want to live anymore.
he wont use his bad leg now. barely tries to move.
and the other 2 brats were picking on him bcuz his bad leg just twitches. like it has nerve damage or sumthin.
i put him in a yougart cup to keep him safe from them, and under the heat lamp.
is it bad to wish he had passed on in the night ?
bcuz i kinda do .
i hate seeing him like this, bcuz i cant fix it.
CG... I know you posted this over 12 hours ago and I still haven't caught up to see what's happened since your post, but I wanted to send you
.
I know the feeling. I would have had it so much easier if Pocket had passed quitely during the night. I would guess that your duckling has something similar going on. PM me if you want to talk. It sucks when one hatches with a serious problem. If you need instructions to do what needs to be done like I had to, let me know.
The hard truth is that it may be easier on us sometimes to just hope they pass on their own, but if the baby is suffering it's better on them to put them down. I had a duckling for three weeks last year who was three weeks old when I got it. The hatchery should have put the duckling out of its misery because neither of its legs worked. Instead they passed it on to a feed store and I took it out of pity. Not only did that ducky struggle needlessly for 6 weeks trying to be a duck, but I got attached and it broke my heart even more when the little guy's heart finally gave out.
I have never, ever put my address on a website. I don't like unannounced visitors, and I'm a single mother so I refuse to just put that information out there. Besides...I'd hate to waste ammo on some idiot that thought he could sneak up on me!
I do a pretty good job of listening to my gut instinct, too.
Exactly. I'll get to know a prospective buyer for ducklings through email. Once I assess if I'm comfortable with them, then they will get the pickup address. Of course, hubby is packing when he answers the door, ever since that situation with the Craigslist murder in Pierce County.
I am working on my personal/business taxes AND creating a budget to purchase life insurance.. so if everyone could just say a little prayer for me.. that would be Faaaaabulous.
Love, love the roman tuffted. She is sweet... her mate was killed by a predator. He was disabled though... his legs splayed when he was a baby. We have named the female Mama Goose and she protects this batch / flock she came with. She is pretty quiet except around her nest / eggs which were not fertile. I didn't get her another mate yet since I'm worried about too much noise from them. I had the kids handle the geese a lot when they were young so they would be people friendly.
Oh... and fyi... Blue egg #1 externally pipped a big dimple about an hour ago. Egg #2 is almost there, as I can see the beak hitting shell through the shell without candling (if that makes sense).
I just noticed I have a dead swedish flower hen. I suspect foul play. It was fine this morning. I heard some weird peeping about an hour ago and looked out into the garage and didn't see anything weird.
I had my blue breda chickens hatch early. Out of 4, one lonely little chicken lived. I have decided that I am only going to use my LG still air has an incubator only, no hatching. It seems that everytime I hatch in there, things die. I should have some BEIs hatching Sunday or Monday and then some Pekins and Runners shortly after that,
Oh thats not all I have cooking, thats just what is coming up to hatching. I have some Ancona eggs, EEs, one Sebbie, going strong, 2 Toulouse eggs with strong hearts, and I think that is it for now. I have some more runners and call ducks on the way. There are some more runners and pekins on hold for me at the farm. And then DG is going to send me some eggs sometime soon,
I had to kill one the other day. It was hard to do. It was barely alive though when I did it and I couldn't watch it try to breathe and move anymore. I put it in a walmart bag, tied it up tight, took it out to the trash can and then I had to figure out how to cull it so it just closed my eyes and hit it several times against the garbage can, I knew it died through that,
Culling is apart of breeding and incubating. Here are a few hopefully helpful ways.
Newly hatched and small chicks/ducks:
Sharp kitchen sheers are quick & humane
A small bowl with a lid add vinegar and baking soda close lid
Older birds there is really only one humane way that's an ax or another very heavy and sharp instrument to remove the head.
Remember when culling for any reason to keep it as quick and human as possible to lesson the trauma on the animal as well as you.
Culling sucks, but it is part of life. I was really shaken when I had to send poor Pocket off over the weekend.
I used the sharp scissors method. If you don't want to see, you can hold duckling inside a bag and do it without seeing blood. Unless you're me and worried that you failed the first time. I had to open the bag and make sure. That was the worst part.
I held my baby for a long while and did the deed away from the other ducklings out of respect.
My WH eggs are going into lockdown in 3 days, and theirs still a bit of room left, more then usual... Is this normal? I will try to compare it to the metzer farms chart....
I also have 11 rouen eggs, and 3 WH eggs in. out of the 6 WH, only 3 grew.... And I think their pure! If their daddy was the rouen, they would have all been fertile, he doesnt mess around with the ladies
And! Someone emailed me from craigslist, and ordered 3 ducklings
Blue egg #1 has not stopped working at hatching since it started peeping yesterday. It is zipping now, even though none of the others have even externally pipped yet (although some are very close)!
I can see yellow hair and pink beak. It is zipping perfectly along top of day 21 line and the membrane looks really good.
I put 8 into lockdown once the 1st 3 internally pipped end of day 24. The other 2 have been trying to externally pip for hours now. The remainder are not far behind, although I am concerned one may be backwards.
Yes, that is just the pipe stuff you get at the hardware store. In the plumbing section. Take your torch along so you buy the right size of pipe stuff.
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