Help! Duck egg pipped internally 3 days ago but no external pip yet! - Page 2

I'm staying close by to see what you find.  Take your time. 

Okay so I went and got them all from her; she seemed greatly relieved, lol.

Anyway, they are now in the bathroom and I very carefully opened (got your instructions as I was bringing them in) a few of the furthest along ones. I'm glad I did because every one of them looked like they were wrapped in paper. Very dry, very tight and white like paper. One duckling had managed to make a very small nip in the membrane but hadn't made a proper breathing hole so I very gently, careful to avoid the veins, made the tear into a tiny hole so the duckling could breathe. He/she immediately peeped hello!

So I've been keeping that little guy wet while I went to work on a few others and so far, I've got two that look great; are peeping, breathing, moving around quite a bit, then I've got one who looked like he had internally pipped but I can't seem to locate his beak, but he's moving around quite a bit too, and then one, the one I was so worried about, isn't moving much but is still moving. Can't seem to locate the beak on that one either. I def saw his beak earlier but he seems to have turned it into the yolk and I don't dare rupturing the yolk or any veins, so I guess I'll just keep a close eye on that one.

Since all four I opened were basically shrink wrapped, I'm wondering I should probably continue to open the rest (that are starting to (internally) pip anyway? 4 haven't )?

They do seem to be drying out again rather quickly (maybe I made too big of holes? they're about the size of a nickle to a quarter in the air space), but I've been keeping them moist with an eye dropper and wet paper towels. Keeping the temp dead on in there has proved to be pretty tricky too, but hopefully since they're already starting to hatch a difference of a few degrees will be fine, yeah?

Thank you all again so much! I was pulling my hair out last night and this morning!

More updates soon!!

(and pictures!)

Wow you have amazed me!  you have done so well. once you make the holes so they can breathe and get their bills out I think they can pretty much take over can't they QJ?

 

Didn't she do great!  That's the idea.  But... Ya never know.  My guess would be probably not.  LOL.   I never get that lucky. 
 

 So what is next? this is very interesting and I want to follow this.

She'll just keep helping them little by little.  Sounds like she's got her "inner ducky" going strong.  She's done GREAT so far!!  

Okay, so quick update (finally lol):

I've now got 8 open, with 7 beaks thru breathing holes and wiggling regularly. I still just can't seem to confidently locate the beak on that one.

5 have really good, strong movement and are cheeping a lot. ...I pretty much melt every time they do. Three of those five are stretching and trying to unfold themselves at times and are also the most vocal.

The two others with their beaks out are still moving, just not as much as the 5, and the one who's beak I still can't find yet IS, at least, still moving, but ...not much. :(

There are 13 eggs but 4 I've decided just aren't ready as their air pockets are still rather small and not tilted to the side at all like the rest were. No pipping in them either. I've been thinking that about those 4 for a few days now thou, so it's not that surprising. Hopefully, I'm not horribly, horribly wrong, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.

Then there's one that I think might be a late quitter (from a few days ago), but it doesn't smell at all so I'm keeping a close eye on it for now.

Does anyone know about how long it takes them to absorb the yolk? I can only see yolk in two but I'm going to assume the rest are... yolky, as well, and be just as careful with them.

I've been reading as much as I can, as fast as I can, in between wettings of their membranes, and now I'm thinking maybe I acted too soon. Shouldn't their yolks already be fully absorbed? Most of these guys internally pipped a few days ago (the rest, besides those unopened 5, tues evening/wed morning) and one as far as Sunday night; so it seems like they would've absorbed it by now.

BUT in every egg I opened, the membrane was white, paper-dry and shrink-wrapped around the duckling. They had gotten much quieter over the past few days and weren't moving much until I wet their membranes upon opening and then they jumped and wiggled and peeped! ("Wooo! I'm gonna live!") So I dunno, I hope I did the right thing as I couldn't just sit by and wait for them to die, but, at the same time, I really hope I didn't merely postpone that.

I have been able to keep the membranes wet with heaters, lamps, bowls of water, very wet washcloths and towels and regular light mistings, but it's no small task. And keeping the temperature steady has been tricky too, due to the mistings and lack of lid for them (there's a very wet washcloth over them). Plus, I think my thermometers are a bit off. But they're all still alive (so far) and it's literally all I've got to work with so it'll have to do.

When the yolk IS absorbed, the membrane will turn kind of a sticky brown? Will there still be veins visible when it's done or will they all but disappear? Figure I'd better be safe than sorry, since I know I'll feel awful if I accidentally causing one to bleed to death. :S

Is there anything I can do for the one who's beak I can't find? Maybe it's in there upside down? It's not moving very much any more but it hasn't absorbed the yolk yet and there are still a lot of red veins that I'm afraid to tear, AND it doesn't seem to be trying to stick its beak out anywhere, so maybe it just doesn't need to get it's head out yet? Seems like it would have suffocated by now otherwise (but I also somehow doubt it). And no, I don't really want to think about what that means . However  I am, and have been, thinking this one prob doesn't have much chance. It hasn't been doing well at all for the last few days, but it's still hanging in there so I can't give up on him/her yet.

Thank you both so much for your support, advice and encouragement! My husband is not much interested in the scary-looking egg shaped things with beaks in the bathroom, lol. Can't much blame him thou. This is tricky business!
Anywho, wish me luck. I look forward to your replies and I'll update again soon, hopefully with good news! Thanks again!