The Poultry Keeper

cadwganchicks

This would be my second duckling, the first is laying beside this one... something is protruding from him/her - can anyone please shed some light on what it may be????

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jreeve · Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 104 Location: North Wales

Hiya, please see this thread: "http://forums.thepoultrykeeper.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=19727&highlight=" Did it hatch by itself? Absolutely cover and pack with flour over any bleeding bits and on its belly to stop the flow. Put some tissue down under and around it, or put tissue in a little box and put it in the box, and the box in the incubator and then leave well alone so it can warm and dry up. The blood loss can sometimes kill them but if you do as above you might be lucky.

I'm assuming here that the problem is an un-absorbed sac because of an early hatch.. i've never seen one looking exactly like that though, but hopefully there is no other problem.

cadwganchicks · Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 10:06 pm Post subject:

Yeah it hatched by iteself, a bit late if anything. It was 28 days on wednesday so today would be 30 days. Its an Aylesbury.

jreeve · Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 104 Location: North Wales

Could the incubator have been running at too low a temperature? I would think that if it was just a 'sickly' duckling then it wouldnt have hatched in the first place. How is the other one?

cadwganchicks · Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:34 am Post subject:

The other one is fine and healthy. Happily drying out. Had a digi thermometer in there and it showed 36.5 consistently. Waiting for the other one now. Maybe its just one of those things.....

Lisleoise · Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 7:34 am Post subject:

To me the photo shows that part of the duckling's innards have prolapsed out of it's vent.

How's it doing now?

cadwganchicks · Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:46 am Post subject:

Unfortunatly he passed away last night Sad

jreeve · Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 104 Location: North Wales

Sorry to hear that. Do you have any plans for the other duckling? is there anywhere you can get a friend for it? If not it will get awfully attached to you, we had one that hatched a few days before the rest of the batch once and everytime we left the room it would just squeak and squeak and squeak until we came back!

As for a prolapse, its nowhere near the vent .. its the yolk sac that was protruding in the picture, so if any organs were involved it was through that. Looks like it was just "one of those things" unfortunately Sad

Hope the other one thrives x

cadwganchicks · Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:31 pm Post subject:

his mate has just hatched so hopefully the two of them will be ok together.

Pekinout · Joined: 29 Apr 2008 Posts: 1219 Location: Cornwall

There's several reasons why the little duckling hatched before it had absorbed the egg sac.

Small eggs.
Improper egg storage.
Temperature too high in the incubator.
Humidity too low in the incubator
Old Eggs.
Warm and cool areas in the incubator.

cadwganchicks · Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:49 pm Post subject:

there was no yolk sac left, it was just a wee bit of blood around the protrusion. It wasnt an early hatching, it was quite late really. Anyway, law of nature, youre bound to loose a few. Its just a case of coming to terms with that....