Help with assisting twin hatch (muscovi)

[PrettyCoolChicks]

I'm on day 31 out of 35 of hatching Muscovi duck eggs. I suspected I had twins early on (a couple folks also thought so after posting a video in the august hatch along thread). I've decided to keep them and do an assisted hatch if they made it that far based on reading other's recent experiences. It seems their odds are so low that it probably can't hurt to try helping in this case.

....and I foolishly failed to make a note of which egg was the twins and lost track of it. Now, I think this #4 is the twins:

So my first question is, do you concur this egg in the video is twins? Or could this just be both ends of one chick poking in different places?
If these are the twins, does this mean chances are both are oriented with their head towards the air cell?
Are these just shadows or are these already pips? How close do you think this egg is to hatching?

For context, I'm new to hatching (hatched 8/8 chicken eggs so far this year, and helped none) and this is my first batch of Muscovi ducks.
I read up all I could about assisting (guide from these forums and a few threads), as well as previous twin hatching help threads here.
For now, my plan for now is to candle every 2-3 hours and check for bruising, poke a safety hole immediately if I see either a bruise or a pip, and carefully assist about 48h later.

Even if this video is not the twins, that means one of the other 2 eggs might be it,
so, I'd love any feedback and advice available to increase odds they survive if it can be helped.

 

[PrettyCoolChicks]

I have an internal pip now, heard a chirp and made a safety hole with a sterile needle.

There's a couple spots I'm not sure are bruises or not, but I'll check in an hour to see if the appearance changed.

 

[Canadian Wind]

You shouldn't need to make any holes unless it's been a long time since the internal pip. I've never (to my knowledge) had twins, so can't help so far as that goes.

@New duck mommy 2021 has experience in everything hatching, and she's my go to if I have problems.

 

[Violanna]

I would let them do their thing for a while. Don’t interfere unless you can see them struggling with no progress or they give up.

 

[PrettyCoolChicks]

Thank you both!

The hole is just a tiny pin hole (see pic) that @New duck mommy 2021 recommended making in some other threads. Twins can run out of air faster than single chicks apparently.

I set my alarm clock to check for bruising every 3h for the next 4 nights. Nothing so far so I guess you’re right Violanna, I just have to sit tight and wait now.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Thank you both!

The hole is just a tiny pin hole (see pic) that @New duck mommy 2021 recommended making in some other threads. Twins can run out of air faster than single chicks apparently.

I set my alarm clock to check for bruising every 3h for the next 4 nights. Nothing so far so I guess you’re right Violanna, I just have to sit tight and wait now.

That hole is perfect size
Air can get in and it’s also small enough you don’t need to tend to the membrane
I’ll read through the post now to see what’s going on
Just saw where I was tagged

 

[PrettyCoolChicks]

@New duck mommy 2021 Thanks!

I think this brownish spot in the first pic just appeared within the last hour. Could that be a bruise? It is really tiny and all photos of bruising i saw were much bigger. Plus all my own wrong end chicks just pip’d directly without bruising… so I’m not entirely sure what qualifies.

I drew what i think is the position of the two babies with blue crayon because photos while candling are all blurry. One is obviously in the air cell on the big end, the other has a much smaller pointy shadow just at the edge of the air cell. I wish I could tell if it was through the membrane, sometimes there is no shadow and sometimes there it is.

Right now I’m thinking I will check that spot again in 30-45 min and poke another tiny hole just below the edge of the aircell where the spot is. That way I can also see if it changed in any way before i do that.

Thoughts?

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

@New duck mommy 2021 Thanks!

I think this brownish spot in the first pic just appeared within the last hour. Could that be a bruise? It is really tiny and all photos of bruising i saw were much bigger. Plus all my own wrong end chicks just pip’d directly without bruising… so I’m not entirely sure what qualifies.

I drew what i think is the position of the two babies with blue crayon because photos while candling are all blurry. One is obviously in the air cell on the big end, the other has a much smaller pointy shadow just at the edge of the air cell. I wish I could tell if it was through the membrane, sometimes there is no shadow and sometimes there it is.

Right now I’m thinking I will check that spot again in 30-45 min and poke another tiny hole just below the edge of the aircell where the spot is. That way I can also see if it changed in any way before i do that.

Thoughts?

My bruises were more of a darker colour and spread out
Have any others hatched yet ? I was thinking goo from. Baby rubbing on the eggs after hatch

 

[PrettyCoolChicks]

None hached yet, the twins seem to be a day ahead of the others.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

None hached yet, the twins seem to be a day ahead of the others.

Keep an eye on that area in case it is a bruise