To assist or not to assist?

[Featheredfluffs]

Alright I just read a little about the condition... he has been removed from the shell (starting to get quite dirty) and is in an “artificial” shell (stainless steel bowl with paper towels. He bled a lot but I dipped his hind end into a bowl of styptic powder and that stopped it right away. I am going to move him into his own incubator (a more sterile plastic tub with a heat pad on bottom), as soon as it’s warm enough.

His back end has been dabbed with hydroxyzine, and he is now resting. My mom is running out to get non pain medicated neosporin now. Anything else I should do? He is active and strong, peeping away.


One of the other ducklings passed, but everyone else is doing well. Every single one is malpositioned... I used an automatic egg turner and heard that sometimes causes problems, could that be it?


I have other eggs with babies in them, but it’s so hard to tell if they are struggling to escape or just not ready (that’s what killed the other duckling). Any tips on telling the two apart? Thanks so much.

 

[Pyxis]

I'm not sure what condition you mean, but it's totally safe to leave them in the egg until they finish absorbing and taking him out wasn't necessary. But what's done is done.

When they are still absorbing, they make yawning and chewing motions with their beaks. If you see that, they aren't ready.

If you take the air cell end off the egg and have coated the air cells with coconut oil to prevent it drying to them, often they can just push themselves right out on their own when they are ready.

 

[Featheredfluffs]

I'm not sure what condition you mean, but it's totally safe to leave them in the egg until they finish absorbing and taking him out wasn't necessary. But what's done is done.

When they are still absorbing, they make yawning and chewing motions with their beaks. If you see that, they aren't ready.

If you take the air cell end off the egg and have coated the air cells with coconut oil to prevent it drying to them, often they can just push themselves right out on their own when they are ready.

I thought he was ready... the condition I’m talking about is the mushy chick syndrome. I know I made a mistake, but like you said, what’s done is done and I prefer to stay positive. It’s so sad that every single one is with their feet over their heads, I’m way out of my experience zone. He seems active and is peeping nicely for now.

 

[Pyxis]

I thought he was ready... the condition I’m talking about is the mushy chick syndrome. I know I made a mistake, but like you said, what’s done is done and I prefer to stay positive. It’s so sad that every single one is with their feet over their heads, I’m way out of my experience zone. He seems active and is peeping nicely for now.

Oh, mushy chick isn't caused by them staying in their shells. It's caused by an E. coli infection of the yolk sac. Sorry, I totally wasn't meaning to sound negative, I had just wanted to let you know for the rest of the ducklings not to do that.

You'll be able to tell when they want out. Here's my last foot over head duckling and how I knew it wanted to be out of that egg:

They will start struggling a ton to get out and as you can see this one even shoved his foot right out.

 

[Featheredfluffs]

Oh, mushy chick isn't caused by them staying in their shells. It's caused by an E. coli infection of the yolk sac. Sorry, I totally wasn't meaning to sound negative, I had just wanted to let you know for the rest of the ducklings not to do that.

You'll be able to tell when they want out. Here's my last foot over head duckling and how I knew it wanted to be out of that egg:

They will start struggling a ton to get out and as you can see this one even shoved his foot right out.

Thanks for the info!


I was just starting to get worried about a possible infection since parts of the shell seemed pretty dirty and he was exposed. The little guy still has some yolk left to absorb, but not a huge amount and he’s in a very sterile environment. I really hope he makes it. Here’s a picture of “Pretzel”:

 

[Featheredfluffs]

All Ducklings hatch curled up that way..They move into position as they absorb the yolk.
I'm thinking you got told to assist too soon..you were only on day 26 at the beginning of the post..Takes 28 days to hatch the breeds of Ducks you have.
Best of luck.

Thanks. Only one made an external pip on its own, though... and many couldn’t even do an internal one. I had to open the shell up a lot for the little guys to hatch. Still lots more not ready yet... only 3/11 have hatched! This is going to be a long day

 

[Pyxis]

How are all the little guys doing @Featheredfluffs? Still absorbing?

It's interesting that so many of them were foot over head malpositioned, and as you said that can definitely keep them from being able to even internally pip. They certainly can't hatch on their own that way. They get into hatching position about a week to five days before they hatch and it's at that point that they can end up malpositioned, and there's nothing you can do to influence that aside from having them in the correct position in the turner, which I'm sure you did. Just bad luck that they all ended up this way.

 

[WVduckchick]

Foot over head seems to be the norm for my call ducklings.

 

[Pyxis]

Foot over head seems to be the norm for my call ducklings.

I've had that a lot in mine too, actually. Maybe the small eggs don't leave them enough room to get into proper position.

 

[Featheredfluffs]

How are all the little guys doing @Featheredfluffs? Still absorbing?

It's interesting that so many of them were foot over head malpositioned, and as you said that can definitely keep them from being able to even internally pip. They certainly can't hatch on their own that way. They get into hatching position about a week to five days before they hatch and it's at that point that they can end up malpositioned, and there's nothing you can do to influence that aside from having them in the correct position in the turner, which I'm sure you did. Just bad luck that they all ended up this way.

The rest are still absorbing. This hatch is going to take quite a while, some aren’t even ready for an internal pip. Still 6 more healthy eggs that haven’t hatched yet... but I’m just glad to have at least 3 little babies!