On the 27th day we saw a little chip of the shell missing and knew the show was starting. Even though all the websites said they would take 30 days, one of them started that late afternoon. Not much happen the rest of the night and we thought by time we woke up their would be a duckling waiting for us. When woke up though, not much change on the first one but the one next to it started cracking. The second one took only a hour or so and he had popped out. Maybe it was Miss E cheering it on, or it was just a smaller bird so it was easier for the duckling. Either way, we had a real live duckling that we hatched on our hands and everybody was really excited. The websites also say not to help the ducklings come out of the shells at all either. But, with my wife and daughter telling me not to, I new that something had to been done with the first one. I used a pair of tweezers and slowly broke away some the egg shell pieces and membrane, stopping every now and then to see if I had done enough for it to push out on its own. Eventually it got out and proved the reason it took so long. It was a a lot bigger then the first one that hatched even though they were made on the same date. It also had some of the shell stuck to its back which made it hard for it to push out. We are the now the proud owners of two ducklings with more to come. 
I have used pine shavings when my peeps are older, but there is a danger in using them too soon because the chicks sometimes will eat them and can't digest them. I have read of chicks dying because of eating shavings. On the other side, newspaper that gets wet can contribute to splayed leg in new chicks. I guess it is a toss up. :)
ReplyDeleteThe babies look great!
Sonja Twombly of
http://lallybrochfarms.blogspot.com/