Day 30, no internal pips, but all alive

[duckman4450]

The duckling has not made any progress since I pipped for it (a couple hours ago) which isn't that surprising but it is still moving when touched. I wrapped it with a warm paper towel and peeled away some shell (not the membrane) where it's beak is sticking out. The duckling hasn't made a sound which is concerning me, it seems it used all it's energy trying to pip when it had no chance because it was pipping at the ground.

When I shine a flashlight into the pip hole, I can see yellow yolk with veins sitting on top of it's head, just above the two breathing holes on it's beak. It seems like it's making an effort to get out with no real change.

Should I do something like this all the way around the shell without breaking the membrane?

It also seems that there are a lot of veins everywhere except where the beak is poking out

 

[WVduckchick]

If you still see active veins, and its only been a few hours, I'd wait. The only thing I would do is keep that membrane moist, even use a little dab of vaseline on the membrane. If the bill is out, then it can breathe, so keeping it from getting stuck to the membrane is your biggest concern at this point. The more shell you remove, the bigger chance of the membrane drying out.

Keep an eye on it, and if you feel its in distress, you have to make that judgement call as to when to intervene and help more.

 

[duckman4450]

Unfortunately it seems the little ducky has passed on

It is no longer moving or opening it's mouth to breathe.

For a lack of a better term, it was dealt a crap hand when it came to it's position. Upon further inspection I could see one of it's legs OVER it's head next to the remaining yolk sac and it's eyes and head were covered by the yolk sac.

I still have hope for egg #1! It's still moving around inside there but no internal pip yet, not sure what I should do with it

 

[Orca5094]

So sorry that one didn't make it, sounds like it was in an odd position in there. You did all you could! It was nowhere near ready to hatch, so helping it out more would not have likely changed the outcome.

I would just give #1 more time. Really hope that one comes through for you at least!

 

[WVduckchick]

So sorry that one didn't make it, sounds like it was in an odd position in there. You did all you could! It was nowhere near ready to hatch, so helping it out more would not have likely changed the outcome.

I would just give #1 more time. Really hope that one comes through for you at least!

x2! Totally agree. Good luck with the remaining

 

[duckman4450]

Well I might just be the unluckiest person of the week. I got home and checked on the egg #1 and it has the exact same marking as egg #3 did where it pipped. This one is a little lower than the previous, closer to the skinny part of the egg (air cell at the top of the photo). Could this problem be because these eggs were shipped???

So it looks like I'm gonna need some more advice... Should I make a small hole or just let it try to get out? Humidity in the incubator right now is about 80% and 99.5*

 

[WVduckchick]

Could very well be a problem from being shipped... Did you incubate with them upright, air cell up? Or laying down? I'm curious. And did you lock them down, laying down with the lowest dip of the air cell pointing up?

Since the outcome of the last one, that's a tough call. I think I'd have it laying down, with the stain pointing up.... and wait a bit longer to see if it will pip on its own?

Another question though... when you broke into the last one, did you break the shell at the point of the stain, and that's where you found its bill?

 

[duckman4450]

Could very well be a problem from being shipped... Did you incubate with them upright, air cell up?  Or laying down?  I'm curious.  And did you lock them down, laying down with the lowest dip of the air cell pointing up? 

Since the outcome of the last one, that's a tough call. I think I'd have it laying down, with the stain pointing up.... and wait a bit longer to see if it will pip on its own? 

Another question though... when you broke into the last one, did you break the shell at the point of the stain, and that's where you found its bill? 

I incubated them all laying down. At lockdown I candled and found the lowest part of the air cell and faced them up towards the ceiling.

And yes I broke the shell at the very dark spot in the middle and its beak was just a tiny bit above that.

Until I hear otherwise, maybe if Orca posts again, I think I'm going to wrap the egg in a warm paper towel to moisten the shell and just see if there's any progression in the next few hours. There are still veins I can see near the air cell when I candle. This mark was not there last night so it just happened overnight or this morning. I don't want it to go like last time!

Editing to add that the gray spot, like the other egg, is noticeably growing but the very dark small spot is not. The large gray spot also seems to have a yellowish tint that you can't see in the photo

 

[duckman4450]

Well, as I was sitting there watching TV I figured that today, on day 32, it could be do or die for the duckling, it's already 4 days late and malpositioned. so I made a hole as small as I could. I located the ducklings beak right where I poked the hole. No sound and minimal movement.

I wrapped it in a paper towel and humidity in the incubator is about 80%. I'm just going to leave it alone overnight and check on it tomorrow and go from there

You can actually see the beak in the picture, the little yellow mark that is in the hole

 

[WVduckchick]

Good luck