Setting eggs July 6th. Need some hatching buddies. Lets have some fun!

So it's been at least 24 hours since the pip. He has made it larger since last night. He is moving inside the egg still, so I know he is alive. How long shuould I wait until I help the little guy out? It is so hard to just watch. I have the live webcam up. The link is in my signature. What to do?!?!?
hmm.png

What day is he actually on? Is this day 21 now, or later than 21? It's really tough to know when to help, because if he hasn't absorbed the yolk sac yet, or if the blood vessels in the membrane haven't receded yet, you could kill him. But I can tell you what I have had to do for every backwards pipper. I help them first by making the pip hole a bit larger. I use tweezers to peel away a few chips of shell, without tearing any of the membrane. Then I give them a little time to see if that was all they needed. If not, then I will try peeling just a tiny bit of the membrane away. I do it SUPER slowly, and if it begins to bleed AT ALL, the little guy is not ready and I put it back in the incubator and wait. There's always a little blood left in the membrane, so just seeing a little red is not bad. But if a bead of blood actually wells up out of the membrane, that's active bleeding and that's bad. If there's no bleeding, and he still can't hatch, I will chip away a ring of shell all the way around the egg, so it's just membrane holding the pointy end of the shell to the rest of the egg. Again, sometimes that's all they need and the chick can kick free. But if the membrane has dried out too much, I also have to peel away more membrane. Once the chick starts to struggle to free itself, I always set it back in the incubator and see if it can do the rest of the job itself. Usually the chick will be encouraged by all of this and will help itself along. I just do everything in tiny stages, and then give the chick a chance to finish the job itself. All of this is risky because the more shell you chip away, the more the membrane dries out and that makes it harder for the chick to get out, too. So once you make the decision to start helping, be sure you can tend to the process for the next few hours, in case you have to wait, try again, wait some more, try again, etc. I've helped about five backwards pippers out this way, and they've all survived, but I get scared every time I do it!
 
I have the humidity up right now and the pip hole turned away from the fan. I hope that helps some. I'm thinking I might have to help, but it's 9:30 and I have to leave at 2:00. I might have to wait until tonight to be sure I gave him enough time to do it himself. Today is hatch day. Really tonight so I guess the best thing to do is wait. The egg in the back has pipped the right spot, but the third egg has no signs of life. I don't have much hope for that one. :(
 
I have the humidity up right now and the pip hole turned away from the fan. I hope that helps some. I'm thinking I might have to help, but it's 9:30 and I have to leave at 2:00. I might have to wait until tonight to be sure I gave him enough time to do it himself. Today is hatch day. Really tonight so I guess the best thing to do is wait. The egg in the back has pipped the right spot, but the third egg has no signs of life. I don't have much hope for that one.
sad.png

Oh sorry I forgot you had duck eggs, so day 28, right? Either way, if today is hatch day, then yeah I would give him a little more time. If he's got air, he should be fine for a while. You might use the other pipped egg as a gauge. If it has pipped in the right spot, maybe see if it makes any progress soon. It might tell you when the backwards pipper is ready to come out, too. Assuming they were set at the same time, that is.
 
Well I steamed up the bathroom and took the egg in and chipped away some shell. The membrane (if that's what it's called) is white and thick. I dabbed some warm water on it and put it back in the incubator. Not much blood. I tried looking in, but I didn't want to hurt the duckling. I could see him wiggling around and he was cheeeping. Good or bad that I did that? I think maybe I should turn the fan off.
 
Well I steamed up the bathroom and took the egg in and chipped away some shell. The membrane (if that's what it's called) is white and thick. I dabbed some warm water on it and put it back in the incubator. Not much blood. I tried looking in, but I didn't want to hurt the duckling. I could see him wiggling around and he was cheeeping. Good or bad that I did that? I think maybe I should turn the fan off.

I think turning the fan off tends to decrease the humidity? That's what I noticed when I had an incubator where the fan had an on/off switch. I think it's the circulation of air over the water reservoir that actually keeps the humidity up. Don't quote me on that, though. But I wouldn't turn the fan off without being able to observe how it affects the temp and humidity over the next few hours. As for what you did, I think it's fine as long as you didn't make him bleed. If the membrane dries out too much, you can dab more water on it like you did. I would encourage you to use water that has been boiled and cooled, just to be safe (it's as close to sterile as you can get at home). And also be careful not to dab it right in his little beak! But I'm sure you thought of that. :) Wiggling and cheeping is good. Especially if it looks like he is trying to rotate himself inside the egg. If he was facing the other way, he'd be rotating and pipping all around the egg to get out. So if it looks like he is trying to rotate and pip (you can see them do this when they've torn away the membrane a bit, they push really hard with their legs to try and shift position) then it means he's ready to come out and is trying to do it himself. When they're backwards they just don't seem to have enough room to rotate this way, though, so they get exhausted after a while from trying.
 
Ok. I can see his little beak in the hole. He is still doing good. No blood and no large veins that I could see, but I didn't want to tear it too much. I made sure there was a big enough hole for him to breath. I'll keep an eye on him and see how he does. :::stressed:::
 
I think they might be shrink wrapped. :(
Any advice would be appreciated. I have taken off as much as I'm comfortable doing right now. They don't seem to be 'fighting' to get out. I'm thinking maybe they aren't ready??
 
I think they might be shrink wrapped.
sad.png

Any advice would be appreciated. I have taken off as much as I'm comfortable doing right now. They don't seem to be 'fighting' to get out. I'm thinking maybe they aren't ready??

I looked at your webcam, wonderful image you've got there by the way, what a great idea. Is the backwards pipper the one you've peeled away the most? He looks like he could free himself pretty easily, you might be able to peel away just the bit sticking up behind his head, and then he could uncurl his head and realize he's almost out. Did the other two pip by themselves? If so, how long ago did they pip?
 
They pipped this morning. When I realized that the first one might be shrink wrapped, I broke a hole in the membrane for them to breath. The one in the front is the one backwards. The part above the head had a little blood. I got scared and stopped. I will try again in a little bit. But to me I would think he could free himself too. Thanks for the help. :D. Everything is welcome at this point.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom