Freak Hatch - Thrown Away Egg is Pipping

KatGold

Songster
12 Years
Mar 15, 2011
247
33
206
I am embarrassed to say that this happened, but I put some duck eggs in the incubator and for reasons I won't go into, completely forgot about them. I blew it in the first week and never bothered to take them out (yes, I know how bad that is).

I cannot tell you what the temp has been because I never really paid attention.

I don't know what the humidity has been, except that occasionally when I'd look at the hydrometer and thought about how I really needed to throw the eggs away, it was always low (under 30).

I've never turned the eggs, which are in a carton.

Today, I noticed a smell in the bator. Not wanting to have an explosion, I turned it off, took the lid off, and took the carton to the trash can outside in the cold. At the last minute, I decided to put them back into the cooled bator, turn it back on, and at least candle them tonight before throwing them out tomorrow.

It's midnight, and beyond all belief, I heard chirping. One little duckling has pipped. It is 98 degrees and 17 percent hum.

WHAT ON EARTH SHOULD I DO?!

I'm afraid that it need more humidity, but that a drastic increase would be bad. I want to take it out and wrap it in a warm, wet towel, but I'm sure that would be bad.

Advice, please!!!
 
FYI, these are Australian Spotted Duck eggs. I am not even sure when I put them in, but I think they are between 26 and 31 days old.
 
I couldn't stand it. i don't want to wake up to a shrink wrapped duckling. I don't know if I did a bad thing or not, but I got a kitchen sponge, got it very wet with hot water, and put it in the bator. The humidity has increased to 24. I haven't heard it pip in a while, but that might not mean anything. I'm going to bed. I wish I hadn't gotten up for water, I wouldn't have known about the pip until everything was all over.

Good night.
 
I couldn't stand it. i don't want to wake up to a shrink wrapped duckling. I don't know if I did a bad thing or not, but I got a kitchen sponge, got it very wet with hot water, and put it in the bator. The humidity has increased to 24. I haven't heard it pip in a while, but that might not mean anything. I'm going to bed. I wish I hadn't gotten up for water, I wouldn't have known about the pip until everything was all over.

Good night.
I've never hatched ducklings, so I don't really know what to do, but I've hatched alot of chicks, and thats exactly what I would do.
thumbsup.gif


Try and get some sleep, cause hopefully you'll have a duckling in the morning!
fl.gif
 
8 Hour Update

The duckling is still pipping. She's chatting up a storm and sounds robust. Her pip hole is a little bigger than last night, but not as much as I had hoped.

Temp is 98 and humidity is 27.

Both plugs were pulled out last night to increase oxygen.

I'm sure I shouldn't help her out, the last time I did it was such a failure, but you know how much I want to.

No other eggs are showing signs of pipping.
 
The best thing you can do is relax. If she's healthy enough to pip and talk to you, the temp and humidity was fine. Forget that. You have to focus on the baby at hand. Make sure she has enough fresh air to keep her alive, and that the humidity spike doesn't suffocate her. Then you wait for her to do her thing. Make sure you keep the incubator closed as much at possible, and keep a close eye on her. The only thing I worried about is that you didn't turn the eggs. She may have developed onto the shell, making it impossible for her to survive outside of the egg. And make sure you watch the membrane. With the humidity change, it may effect it in a negative way.
fl.gif
fingers crossed. ~Holly
 
Last edited:
Thanks Holly.

Two questions:

1) How do I make sure she has enough fresh air? Should I use a straw and blow air into the holes? (FYI, I only opened the top once to put in the sponge).

2) What does it mean to have developed into the shell? Does it mean that the shell is actually fused to their skin?

Thanks.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom