bellalovesducks
In the Brooder
- Jul 7, 2024
- 5
- 5
- 12
So our welsh harlequin has been sitting on two eggs(previously 8 the rest were either infertile or quitters) she had previously thrown a quitter out of her nest so we figured she has the instincts to tell if the duckling had died but yesterday we noticed that one of the eggs had a pretty large hole in it and when the mom noticed this she pecked at it a bit and she eventually pecked off some of the hard shell but she left the white membrane intact other than a small hole that I assume was the external pip. We didn’t want to intervene because we didn’t see any blood and figured she knew what she was doing. She continued to sit on them all night diligently and hasn’t kicked that egg out of the nest or anything. Today when she finally got up we were able to see what this egg looked like (photo attached) but this is our first time ever hatching and I’ve tried to read all I could on the internet about natural hatching and mothers assisting but there’s not much information… we aren’t sure if it’s dead considering what looked like dried blood. But we also aren’t sure because we didn’t see her pick at the egg any more since last night but it was completely enclosed last night and is now half out but we aren’t even sure which part of the body is out and if the duckling was positioned properly. Not sure if there’s any chance it will survive here but we just wanted to know what happened here. Additionally, we have the other egg that appears to be pipped properly and seemingly has no other cracks but when I candled it it had a small yellow shadow and the duckling didn’t appear to be within the air sac other than its beak.. so not sure what happened with this one either and what we should do. We are wondering if the membrane is too dry and if we need to try and mist them or if we should just let mama handle it. We are keeping her inside with the eggs since we can’t make a separate enclosure that’s predator proof to keep her away from our drake who will continue to try and mate her.. and where we are it’s within the 90°s so we don’t want her to overheat either. Not sure if this affects the moisture on the eggs. Thanks in advance
