I've been meaning to write this guide for a couple of months now, to help others that might find themselves in my situation.
A couple of months ago, my pekin and khaki campbell ducks made nests and began laying in them. I had heard that the mothering instinct had been bred out of them, so I figured I would leave it to nature and whatever she hatched, she hatched and I wouldn't interfere.
I did candle them when it had been a few weeks and I saw that they were at about day 24.
Then my pekin mum decided to leave the nest and party with the other ducks for extended periods. She wasn't interested in staying on it and had also started rolling the eggs out and destroying them. I didn't get to them quickly enough to see if any had been viable or not, they were empty.
I had read that sometimes they destroy eggs that are no good, sometimes they also attack and kill alive ducklings deliberately, Drakes are known to get jealous and kill them.
So, I decided to bring mine inside, but I didn't have an incubator. What to do?
All the research I did, told me that it couldn't be done. Ducklings need a constant temperature of 37.5 with 80% humidity to hatch.
I used my thermomix (as a steamer) on 70 degrees celcius, with water in the bottom, which made the temperature around 37 degrees in the varoma. This worked during the day, though I had to keep resetting it every hour.
Sometimes I kept the eggs in contact with my body. Overnight, I kept them in a fish tank with a desk lamp on them.
Eventually, I could hear the internal pipping and the external pipping had started. I knew this was the dangerous period, as without the humidity right, the ducklings would get 'shrink wrapped' and be unable to move. Being unable to move, they couldn't twist their umbilical cord and would bleed out if I tried to help them.
These ducklings had no hope of emerging alive, from what I read.
I figured, if the only option is certain death, anything is worth trying.
So, here is what I did:
Since there was the beginning of external pipping, I used this to peel off the outer shell, cracking it with my fingernails, bit by bit.
Under that, there is a thick, white, rubbery layer. Gently, slowly, peel this off in sections. Don't take it all off at once, in fact, for the bottom half, you can leave them together.
Under that, the final layer, will be either white - if it has dried out - or clear yellow. It is the consistency of mucus. If you dip your finger in water and rub it over this layer, the white will turn to clear yellow and you will see all the veins with blood. You will need re-moisten the area you are working on every few minutes as it dries out quickly.
Be careful not to drip any water in to the duckling's bill. This will likely drown it. Dip your finger in the water and rub it around, that way there isn't enough to present a risk.
* Here I should note to observe the area where the yolk is. If you see any yolk present, leave the duckling as is, until the yolk is absorbed. Use gloves or hand sanitiser whenever the duckling will be handled. This may take up to a day. Do not proceed until the yolk is gone.
The idea here is to make a hole, where the beak is. Be careful, as there is a vein on the left of the beak. Then slowly, ease that clear yellow layer over the duckling. You may cut between the veins if needed, but often you can just stretch it.
* If you cut a vein, press down on it to stop the bleeding. When it stops, leave the duckling for awhile. I had one duckling have a small bleed, so after stopping the bleeding, I left it several hours and then restarted the process.
First clearing its leg (that is over its beak), then over the head.
Once you get to that point, you can hold the egg upside down, so gravity is assisting a little. The duckling will slowly pop out, still attached by the umbilical cord.
At this point, you can either leave it for awhile - it can now expand its lungs and breathe, while it is still getting its nutrients from the umbilical cord. Later, clamp the cord hard for one minute (with your finger, a peg, whatever you can come up with) and then snip it. Check that it is not bleeding and dab some hand sanitiser on the cord end.
The duckling will be tired and lay there for up to one day, sometimes two. After that, they come to 'life' and behave like any other duckling, doing all instinctual behaviours.
Make sure you put them in a brooder. I used a desk lamp in a small fish tank, with a towel in there for them to lay on. This needs to be changed daily. They just need to be warm, all the time, for the first couple of weeks.
I hope this guide helps - I know it is a lot of work and many people don't have the time and inclination to go to that much effort. However, for those that do, I wrote this guide for you - to show you that it CAN be done and you can save your ducklings' lives.
*I have assisted the hatching of the inital 6 ducklings and all are 2 months old and very healthy. I assisted 1 duckling from a subsequent hatch the same way and it is also surviving and currently 2 weeks old.
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