Day 28 of Incubation. Should I intervene?

[LittleLakesFarm]

I have 3 Indian Runners & 2 crested Aylesbury duck eggs in my incubator. The temp. has been 38C/100F throughout. There is not a humidity reading for this incubator. I turned them at least 3 times a day & gave them a mist each time. There is a water trough built in the incubator which was full throughout & when we went on Lockdown.

I am concerned because it is day 28 & there are no wiggles, peeps or external pipping. They were alive when I candled them just before lockdown. I have not removed the lid since lockdown on day 25 (this past Sunday/3 days ago). I have always read not to open the lid at this stage but in other threads, it says to candle them to make sure they have pipped internally before intervening? Is it safe to open the lid at this stage to check if they have pipped internally? I am confused. Please help guide me as what to. I would appreciate it very much, I am so worried.

UPDATE: I opened the lid & candled them. The water was gone so I refilled the trough & gave them a good mist. I saw movement in a couple of them & all of them looked like they had pipped internally so I poked a few tiny pin holes in the air sac to be safe. One of them was not moving at all & had a lot of blood come out when I poked the air holes in it. He/she sadly did not make it. I hope the other 4 are okay. I hope I did the right thing. I did what I felt was the best thing to do. :/

 

[Birdlady2248]

I have successfully incubated hundreds of eggs and have never even heard of lockdown. I always opened my incubator several times a day. It is large, and i had eggs at different stages of incubation.

If i were you, i would candle the eggs and see what is going on. Patience is really a virtue because there were times i decided to help one out of its shell and it was a mistake. I have found there to be a huge difference in the usefulness of an egg tooth on a duckling or gosling compared to a chick's pointy beak in breaking open the egg. No comparison, really. Sometimes it took far longer than i expected.

The real danger in intervening is cracking the egg before the chick has absorbed the yolk sac. You probably already know that is the last thing they do before hatching. I have no idea how they absorb the yolk sac but i have seen them with it still attached and unabsoebed and have never seen one able to survive being opened too soon.

So my advice is to go ahead and candle and spray them too. I wish you luck and hope to hear you get good results.

 

[LittleLakesFarm]

Thank you so much. I hope I did the right thing by poking tiny holes in the air sac :/. I hope I haven't done it too soon? UGH! #Worried

 

[Chickies2020]

Leave them be! Duck eggs take forever to hatch. If you got blood poking through, they were definitely not ready to come out. They might internally pip today, externally pip tomorrow, and take another day after that to zip and come out. I'm on day 28 today with campbells so I hear you - this is my 2nd hatch and Im DYING for them to come out. If you help too early youre more likely to kill them than help them though. WALK AWAY FROM THE INCUBATOR!

 

[LittleLakesFarm]

Do you think I did the right thing by poking tiny pin holes in the air sac at this stage? Is that going to hurt them?

 

[Chickies2020]

Are you sure the chick was dead before you poke a hole through? It sounds like you poke a hole through a blood vessel and not through the air sac if there was a lot of blood. It could have been dead beforehand, but people accidentally kill chicks sometimes helping them out of the shell before they are ready - the blood vessels arent fully absorbed and they bleed out. If you only poked through the air cell there shouldnt have been any veins to poke through - but maybe it was dead long before. I cant say.

What day are you counting as "day 1"? Day 1 should start the day after you put them in the incubator unless you set them early morning. If you're counting set day as day one, you might be on day 27 (not 28).

Have you read up on the importance of lockdown before/during hatching? Humidity levels are important so they dont "shrink wrap". There's a great thread below about when and how to intervene, but I think youll find that the general consensus is that hatch day is too early (especially with ducks, who are slow to hatch). Keep in mind that most of the posts on that thread are for chickens, so the days will be closer to the 20s.

That might not have been what you wanted to hear - hatching is SO stressful and I totally get where you're coming from, worrying theyre not ok and wanting to help. I helped out a duckling on day 31 that didnt have all her yolk absorbed! She survived, but it's VERY easy to kill a chick who isnt ready to come out. I never would have guessed she wasnt ready by day 31, but she wasnt. I hope that helps - keep posting with questions. This is a great place to learn (even if its the hard way!)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1081034/hands-on-hatching-and-help

 

[LittleLakesFarm]

Are you sure the chick was dead before you poke a hole through? It sounds like you poke a hole through a blood vessel and not through the air sac if there was a lot of blood. It could have been dead beforehand, but people accidentally kill chicks sometimes helping them out of the shell before they are ready - the blood vessels arent fully absorbed and they bleed out. If you only poked through the air cell there shouldnt have been any veins to poke through - but maybe it was dead long before. I cant say.

What day are you counting as "day 1"? Day 1 should start the day after you put them in the incubator unless you set them early morning. If you're counting set day as day one, you might be on day 27 (not 28).

Have you read up on the importance of lockdown before/during hatching? Humidity levels are important so they dont "shrink wrap". There's a great thread below about when and how to intervene, but I think youll find that the general consensus is that hatch day is too early (especially with ducks, who are slow to hatch). Keep in mind that most of the posts on that thread are for chickens, so the days will be closer to the 20s.

That might not have been what you wanted to hear - hatching is SO stressful and I totally get where you're coming from, worrying theyre not ok and wanting to help. I helped out a duckling on day 31 that didnt have all her yolk absorbed! She survived, but it's VERY easy to kill a chick who isnt ready to come out. I never would have guessed she wasnt ready by day 31, but she wasnt. I hope that helps - keep posting with questions. This is a great place to learn (even if its the hard way!)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1081034/hands-on-hatching-and-help

He/she was dead beforehand. I candled for awhile and there was no movement and I could see blood soaking through the shell. I poked a hole in the airsac and blood immediately kept coming out nonstop. It wasn't right. I wasn't trying to help him/her get out of the egg. I just wanted to poke air holes so he/she could breathe. There wasn't any blood from the other ones who did have movement when candled. I hope I haven't shrink wrapped the other ones by opening the lid but the water had gone dry and there is no other way to fill it. I didn't know what to do. I also hope I haven't made the mistake of poking air holes too soon :? Do you think I have? I guess time will tell. Oh and I think you are right, I might actually be on day 27 the way you described it. Thanks for your input. I hope they are okay.

 

[Chickies2020]

Think of it this way - the chicks internally pip, and then when the oxygen starts to run low they start externally pipping. Unless they are malpositioned and cant get out, they should be just fine.
Yes it's possible they can get shrink wrapped, but they should have their external pip for at least 24 hours before you think about helping. I doubt an early air hole is going to be the difference between life and death right now - dont worry about it too much. Hang in there! I cant wait to see chick pics.

 

[LittleLakesFarm]

Aw thank you for easing my mind. I have made myself sick with worry today. Not healthy. I really hope I haven't shrink wrapped them. Other threads were saying that it was okay to open the lid during "Lockdown" so it can get a bit confusing. I thought, maybe the "Shrink wrap" thing only happens if you open the lid after the external pip? I am not sure. I just hope they are alright. It is agonizing.

 

[Chickies2020]

I personally wouldnt think it would matter as much if they had not externally pipped but maybe there's something I dont know!