My first duckling hatched yesterday around 2 PM and my second hatched a few hours ago. I've been stressed out watching and waiting as my eggs have hatched. Hatching duck eggs is not an easy task and I feel very lucky these two little ones have arrived safe and sound.
Hello Duckling #1
Roar!
Duckling #1 is a feisty little thing. I think it's a female but I'm not an expert at sexing so I could be wrong. Since she was the first and only duckling for over 24 hours I was afraid being alone might be a problem. Ducklings don't always do good solo so I've had her with me a lot while I'm sitting or laying down. I also gave her some stuffed animals to cuddle with to simulate having siblings or a mother duck to cuddle with in the brooder.
Little Teddy Bear Cuddles!
Such A Tiny Girl
Trying Out Different Stuffed Animals
My daughter has this stuffed cat that "breathes." Like you can feel it's stomach moving up and down as a motor makes it look like it's breathing while it makes purring sounds. I tried that with the little duck because I thought something that seemed alive might be the best company for it. It's furry too and the duckling seemed to like it until the battery died.
Cuddling With Game of Thrones Ghost Direwolf
I moved onto to putting Ghost the soft, fuzzy plush in there. It's warm and the duckling seems to enjoy cuddling in it's curves.
Duckling #2 Arrives With Some Help!
So humidity has been a huge problem. Ducks need high humidity in the incubator to hatch or else they can't break out of the egg. My toddler managed to push a chair up to the incubator and opened the lid. When I caught her the humidity levels had dropped pretty low which can mean death to hatching eggs because they get really dried out.
I had to help duckling #1 near the end to get out of it's eggshell. Duckling #2 managed to break through the shell to get fresh air but after 12 hours I could tell it wasn't making progress. I used some tweezers to pull off the top shell around where I saw it's beak. It was fighting to break out and after a several more hours I decided to help it hatch thinking the shell was too hard for it to get out.
I carefully pulled the eggshell off making sure I didn't see blood or yolk that hadn't been absorbed. Duckling #2 came out no problems and was moving around a lot from the start. Hopefully this will continue and the duckling will live.
#2 Has Some Eyebrows!
Not All Good News
Four ducklings died during hatching. I think the humidity issue was part of the problem. One got out of its shell but I think it had such a hard time that it was too weak to make it. Three punctured the outside shell but I think they did it on the side where the eggs didn't have their air sac so they broke through and then turned to the bottom of the egg and suffocated. It was heartbreaking. I tried to break the shells to help them but it was too late.
Out of 14 eggs I think only these two made it. I don't see movement in any of the remaining eggs but I'll leave them a bit longer to make sure. I have other future batches of eggs incubating so I might get more ducklings but who knows....
Anyways, at least I got these two babies. The second duckling is still in the incubator for the next 12 hours drying off so not too many pictures of it yet. I'm really exhausted worrying and not sleeping while the hatching process goes on. I'm happy to try to hatch ducklings but it's not an easy task.