I was with my school and we all went to a peace garden hear the lake, when we were picking some weeds, i found one egg right in the middle of the grass, no trees around it. .. so i brought i home, and i already touched it so and know its bad, but i dont think the mother will take it. My mom said take it to the creek but then the racoons could eat it. Any ways, i know tis a duck egg, so for now, i have it in same grass wraped in a blanket. When i found it it was kind of warm, but i am not sure if it is dead or not. So waht should I do, also what is an incubator, how would i make one? Or should i leave it outside? PLEASE HELP
Answers:
I would take it to your local veterinary clinic or zoo ASAP and talk to them--they'll have VERY good advice! But, for all I know, I'll try and help.
First, keep it warm. Second, take a small, bright light and touch it to the edge of the egg and look inside (don't break it open, just look through the shell around the light!). If there is life inside (anything that looks like it might be alive or a large-ish shape) then you might have a chance..
Eggs incubated around 99 degrees Farenheit (37 Celcius). If you go over 100F (38 Celcius) it will die, and it it goes under 95F (35C) it won't hatch either. First of all, don't wash the egg--there's a protective coating on it that keeps it safe! The egg takes 28 days total to hatch, and you can use a lamp to hatch it AS LONG AS it provides the EXACT correct temperature. You'll have to turn the egg twice a day and spray it lightly twice a day with warm water.
Once it hatches, leave it in the incubator until dry.
The website below also has tips on keeping a baby hatchling safe.
DO NOT RELEASE IT INTO THE WILD--it will die.
"* If you keep the duck eggs in an incubator, you have
to decide whom you wish the little ones to imprint on.
If you are the one taking care of them, and you handle them,
you will be their mama. It's a lot of fun, but only if it's
what you want.
Of course, you can imprint them
on any old thing, like a warm bottle, if you like, but I find
that besides the point, really, of having baby ducks.
* For the first two weeks, baby ducks need to be kept in a
brooder at about 90F for the first few days, then gradually
reduce to 80 by end of first week, and 70 by end of second
week. (Normally, their mother would warm them.)
If the ducklings all huddle, then they are too cold. They
should be actively moving around at least part of the day.
* Also, they shouldn't go in the water for the first few days.
Then they can go outside briefly and have a supervised swim in
a shallow pond. Put them right back into the warm brooder to
dry off.
* A brooder can be any box, tub, shallow aquarium that you keep
inside under controlled temperature. Make sure the little ones
can't get out, and make sure there is NO DRAFT. Also, don't
put it in a high-traffic area.
Ideally, a brooder offers 1 square foot of space for each
duckling.
* After 2 weeks, they can go outside during the day. After 4,
they can live outside.
* Bedding for brooder: Shredded newspaper coverd with a few
layers of paper towels. The substrate shouldn't be completely
even or hard. Or just lots of paper towels are fine, too.
There are other options, but this is the easiest to keep clean,
it's fine for the ducks, and it's cheap.
* Feed low protein duck food (unmedicated) or whatever your ducks
are getting. At most 20% protein. Supplement with greens and
other natural foods. (The protein is VERY important. If they get
too much, they won't grow right.) Usually, the food will have
enough vitamins in it. You may need to "teach" the little ones
to recognize the food. Once one eats, the other ones will
likely imitate. If you want to get fancy, use a duck decoy to
show them how to eat. (You can also imprint them on the decoy.)
* You will need to clean the brooder several times a day to make
sure ducklings don't get sick. Hint: If food/drinking water are
in the middle of brooder, they are less likely to poop and
step into it."
Check out my resource below--this one seems to have some good ideas.
Call your local Bird sanctuary, but you may want to get a box and add a heating blanket then add quite a few towels depending on what temp your blanket or pad gets to, keep it on low.low... because you do not want to boil it from the inside out. Then you wait.. make sure to turn every 4 hours and keep it nice and dry.
you can buy incubators on ebay.com they you can candle the eggs !
check out these websites to candle an egg:
http://www.minkhollow.ca/hatchingprogram...
http://www.duckeggs.com/hatching-eggs.ht...
Homemade incubators:
http://www.utm.edu/departments/cece/idea...
http://www.feathersite.com/poultry/brkin...
http://www.feathersite.com/poultry/incbu...
or you can get a plastic fish cage and put a rag in the corner with a heat lamp and water cups for humidity
you should have left it because it was warm the mum would have been close by. and they dont abandon them because they cant smell that you have touched it, but you have taken it now so the best bet is to keep it. put it on a folded towel with the corners folded in to make a nest shape get a thermometer and put it by the egg shine a lamp on the egg and wait 10 minutes check the temperature if it is below 37degrees then move the lamp closer to the egg if it is warmer do it further away keep doing this until it has reached 37degrees turn the egg twice a day and it may help if every few days you flick a bit of water at it to keep the humidity high this will mke hatching easier, IF it survives and starts to hatch then leave it alone and dont pick at the shell, i know it is tempting but you may kill it. when it has hatched u need to keep it warm, either in a warm room or under the lamp. feed it chick crumbs (it will feed itself, you dont need to help) and also provide lots of water.
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