What happened to the blood veins in the eggs?

[Orca5094]

So I went out and broke that egg open to see what happened and the ducklings beak was right underneath that dark spot. It's rear was backed up to the air pocket. So you were right about the dark spot. Question is, does the duckling being in there backwards mean certain death? If I see another dark spot forming on another egg can I try to put a hole there so it can breathe? There was a good bit of blackish green stuff in the egg too. Like the fluids were rotten already. The yolk was completely intact. Sad burial this morning. But I wonder if that happens again if there is some way to try to save it. I am guessing it would drown if you put a hole in the egg.

Oh no, I'm so sorry. That's exactly how my girl's egg looked when she was trying to hatch out of the wrong end as well last year. It is not a death sentence if that happens, they just sometimes need help since they are not hatching out of the air cell like they should be. My girl made it out, but only because I intervened. She had a sibling who was not so lucky. He/she was also malpositioned (they were shipped eggs, so I attribute multiple malpositions to rough shipping), but I didn't notice that one in time so it died in the egg.

But yes, if you see another one with a spot like that again, I would make a very tiny hole at that spot so the duckling can get air. Then you'll want to prop that end of the egg up a little higher than the other end so the duckling does not drown in the fluid inside the egg. With a normal hatch, the duckling will break into the air cell inside the egg, where it has enough air for about a day while it prepares for the next stage of hatching. The problem with them hatching upside down is that they don't have that air cell to break into, so they often run out of air (or drown) before they're ready to start breaking the shell to hatch out.

I wish you luck with your next egg! Is that the last one you have in your incubator? So sorry this has been such a sad experience for you so far.

 

[cajuntc74]

Thank You! I am going to keep that in mind. And I do have about a dozen more ...about 5 that should be hatching in the next week or two. The others are closer to the end of the month and 5 on the 3 of December. I am crossing my fingers and obeying the rules this time.

 

[Orca5094]

Thank You! I am going to keep that in mind. And I do have about a dozen more ...about 5 that should be hatching in the next week or two. The others are closer to the end of the month and 5 on the 3 of December. I am crossing my fingers and obeying the rules this time.

Ok, glad you have some more in there so you have another chance. Incubating is supposed to be fun and exciting, not stressful and sad. :/

But yes, obey the rules and hopefully you'll have some fluffly little additions soon! Keep us posted, ok? ^-^

 

[cajuntc74]

Ok, glad you have some more in there so you have another chance. Incubating is supposed to be fun and exciting, not stressful and sad. :/

But yes, obey the rules and hopefully you'll have some fluffly little additions soon! Keep us posted, ok? ^-^

Thank you Orca! The other night I told my hubby I wished you were here! LOL..

 

[Orca5094]

Thank you Orca! The other night I told my hubby I wished you were here! LOL..

Aww! I wish I were there to help as well! Might get answers to your questions a little faster, too. Time differences and work schedules keep me off here when I seem to be needed the most. Just keep a positive attitude and I'm sure we'll get some little fluff-balls to hatch out for you. Incubation is a learning process for sure.

 

[cajuntc74]

We have a pip this morning!!!!!!! Well Sam and I noticed it last night before we went to bed. There is a tiny crack in the egg..like a chip and you can see a little round lump there. The egg is rocking around in the incubator this morning so it looks like we MAY actually have a chance at having a little duckling soon!

 

[Orca5094]

We have a pip this morning!!!!!!! Well Sam and I noticed it last night before we went to bed. There is a tiny crack in the egg..like a chip and you can see a little round lump there. The egg is rocking around in the incubator this morning so it looks like we MAY actually have a chance at having a little duckling soon!

YAY!!!! So excited for you!!

It usually takes them about 24 hours from initial pip to start rotating around in there to "un-zip", so hopefully you'll see it make some progress tonight or even tomorrow morning. Ducklings like to take their time. Can't wait to see the little one! You know you'll have to post pics, right?

 

[cajuntc74]

OH gosh! Patience is NOT my greatest virtue! This is going to be a LONG 24 hours for us. One of my incubators crashed 2 days ago. I am having to just get a refund for that one. I ended up having to take all the eggs out of the turner and combine the earlier eggs with the later eggs. So this one is working on hatching.. I have another egg that is due to hatch in 3 days and another due to hatch in 6 days. And 9 others that will hatch closer to the end of the month. I was hoping that the Amazon seller would just send me a replacement but they only want to give a refund!!! John is going to order me another one so I can have 2 incubators for different hatching times. I wanted one to be free for the "lock down" times and one with the turner in there for the ones that still need to be rotated. That incubator we got from Amazon started alarming 3 days ago and that was the one that this egg was in. The temp was all the way down to 30 degrees C. so I put a heater fan on it and covered it with blankets to get the temp back up and then it soared to about 103 degrees! We battled that incubator for nearly half the day before I decided it wasn't going to stabilize and moved the little one over to the good incubator. I tried all the way up to last night to stabilize it with no eggs in it and the highest the temp would reach was 36 degrees C. I am soooo thankful that my neighbor ordered that 2nd incubator! Now the only concern I have is that the humidity is too high in there for the younger eggs. As soon as this little guy hatches he is going into his little brooder so I can get the humidity down.. BUT ..well I guess that won't work since I have those other 2 eggs hatching this next week. I need that other incubator to work!!!

On another not... Hussy ... our female Pekin has 7 more eggs in her little house. She has made a perfect little nest and is laying all her eggs in there. She was just dropping them all over the pen and tried to bury them under whatever she could find. Her eggs are positioned in her next in a perfect circle. I wonder if she will sit on them after she is done laying or if she is just keeping them altogether to keep them out of her way. She is very grumpy.. she does not show any concern when we get near her nest and once we open up her pen in the morning she runs out of there and doesn't seem to pay the eggs any mind until after we put her up for the night. I have tried to leave her in the pen in the morning to see what she would do and she doesn't sit on the at all .. I guess she isn't supposed to until she is done laying all the eggs she wants to lay. I am going to let her keep her eggs in there for a few more days to see if she will decide to sit on them.. but I don't want them to sit in her nest and rot. Her nest looks great! Her eggs are very dirty..I will take a picture of her nest. She was very precise when she arranged those eggs in there. Maybe she will surprise us!

 

[cajuntc74]

WE HAVE A BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It hatched around 8am EST. It was really making some great progress last night and so when he finally rested I went to bed. I got up this morning and all the membrane that was exposed was stuck to the little thing. I got a warm damp towel and laid it across those areas and within a few minutes he managed to get his beak out of there again and started pushing and rolling around. I was pretty freaked out when I first saw it. It was yellow and crusty and dry! I could not get that incubator but to about 65% humidity! Anyway.. LONG story short... we finally had a successful hatch and it is just a wonderful and amazing miracle! It is crazy how only 28 days ago this little egg could have been mixed in with a cake mix and now life has sprung from inside there. You can hear on the video just how excited my daughter was. She is still squealing and excited. He is resting now. I have his brooder box at about 85 degrees. I hope that is sufficient. All the places I have read say just to put a light in there without any specific temperature. Anyway.. sweetness has taken place today!

 

[Orca5094]

Omg, congrats!!! What a little cutie! Love the video! Watching these little guys pop out never gets old.

That might be a little cool for a newly hatched duckling, I think most keep it more like 90 F for the first week. You'll want it to be that warm in one part of the brooder, then have a cooler area they can move to if they get too warm. So you just set the heat lamp over like one half of the brooder and have other other half not directly under the heat lamp. Works well. The ducklings will tell you if they are too hot or too cold by their behavior. If they are always huddled right under the lamp, they're cold. If they're all as far away from the lamp as possible, they're too warm.

When is the next one due? This guy needs a friend! ^-^