cursocale
Chirping
- Mar 7, 2017
- 29
- 32
- 79
Hi all,
I am in need of help. I have raised several ducklings now either hatched under mumma duck or surrogate chickens (when the ducks have walked off the nest). This year I only wanted to raise one or two (slight duckling addict and a growing flock of duckies). I had a couple of fertile eggs under a broody duck but her nest got raided by a Raven. Only one viable egg survived so I pooped it under a broody hen. I have been following development and all has been well until 3 days ago when I notice a crack in the egg. It is a small crack and at that point was mostly in the air sac, which seemed to be getting larger each day (I assumed normal development, plus I could see healthy movement within the egg) - so I left the egg alone. Yesterday I estimated it at about day 18 based on air sac development photos from the web. This morning before work I noticed the chook must've caught a claw in the tiny crack and it had become bigger - ducky was still alive so I taped over the hole with electrical tape (all I had!) and went to work.
I came home tonight to candle and see that the air sac was now huge (way too big) and assumed the ducky had probably died due to the hole. As I thought about it, I realised that the egg may have lost way to much water and that ducky may be shrink wrapped inside the shell, hence the large air sac. Cue my last ditch attempt at saving little ducky - I taped up the small cracks that the hole had made with masking tape and turned on a borrowed backup incy. I've had ducky in there for about 5 hours now on a really high humidity to try and restore some water... Not expecting anything to happen. Well I've just candled and although the air sac is still way too large, there is definitely a heartbeat/movement inside the egg (didn't see this before).
Any ideas on if my theory is right (first time incubator and don't know a huge amount about egg development)? Chances of saving this little ducky? Any tips on how to proceed from here if there are still signs of life in the morning?
Your help is much appreciated!
Thanks
I am in need of help. I have raised several ducklings now either hatched under mumma duck or surrogate chickens (when the ducks have walked off the nest). This year I only wanted to raise one or two (slight duckling addict and a growing flock of duckies). I had a couple of fertile eggs under a broody duck but her nest got raided by a Raven. Only one viable egg survived so I pooped it under a broody hen. I have been following development and all has been well until 3 days ago when I notice a crack in the egg. It is a small crack and at that point was mostly in the air sac, which seemed to be getting larger each day (I assumed normal development, plus I could see healthy movement within the egg) - so I left the egg alone. Yesterday I estimated it at about day 18 based on air sac development photos from the web. This morning before work I noticed the chook must've caught a claw in the tiny crack and it had become bigger - ducky was still alive so I taped over the hole with electrical tape (all I had!) and went to work.
I came home tonight to candle and see that the air sac was now huge (way too big) and assumed the ducky had probably died due to the hole. As I thought about it, I realised that the egg may have lost way to much water and that ducky may be shrink wrapped inside the shell, hence the large air sac. Cue my last ditch attempt at saving little ducky - I taped up the small cracks that the hole had made with masking tape and turned on a borrowed backup incy. I've had ducky in there for about 5 hours now on a really high humidity to try and restore some water... Not expecting anything to happen. Well I've just candled and although the air sac is still way too large, there is definitely a heartbeat/movement inside the egg (didn't see this before).
Any ideas on if my theory is right (first time incubator and don't know a huge amount about egg development)? Chances of saving this little ducky? Any tips on how to proceed from here if there are still signs of life in the morning?
Your help is much appreciated!
Thanks
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