A week and a half ago, Thursday - baby chicks arrive in the mail. Put under other broody hen.
We (Tim) finished wiring the downstairs of the well-house
late Wednesday night, just in time for the baby geese.
Last Thursday - duck egg broody hen decided chicks were more interesting than eggs and ditched the nest, I stuck them in my shirt (humans are about the right temperature and humidity for hatching eggs) and took them to school with me. We also got Tim's baby geese in the mail.
Clockwise left to right: Derringer, Snubnose, Tula, Ruger, Coxinga
They've grown a lot in a week!
Sunday - candled eggs again. Saw movement and heard peeping in the one with a small hole starting.
Monday 10 am - pipping holes increased, movement and peeping solid.
5pm - I was at the meeting and she had finally torn the membrane and had a flappy bit that wiggled when she did! Peeping and wiggling.
Never help an egg to hatch!
...Unless the humidity was too low and it's been stuck in it's shell,
after pipping, for quite a while (48 hours)
11pm - No further progress and seemed to be losing vigor. Tore back some membrane and shell to see baby whom appeared to be shaking. Was struggling to keep both heat and humidity up. Ordered an emergency c-section for fetal distress, failure to progress, and doctors convenience. (Can't sleep 'till baby's okay!) No veins in shell, extraction went smoothly and baby was moved to a recovery box under the heat lamp in the well-house.
Starting to dry off under the heat lamp.
She said her name is Punky like Punky Brewster,
short for Penelope, which could be shortened to Penny.
It's a versatile name for a little duck.
6am - 2 hour checks all night, baby standing a little. Ate a little, drank a little and pooped! Not out of the woods yet but looking hopeful.
I am told Punky is an Ancona duck, laying 280 green/blue eggs a year.
I hope Punky is a hen. I don't want to eat the baby I worked so hard to keep alive.
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