When should I put a safety hole in a call duck egg?

[shawluvsbirds]

 

[Cheems]

Dizzy has started quacking, she is a girl I believe, although its a little quieter than Ocho so its a little harder to tell.

 

[WVduckchick]

Will be interesting to watch her continue to feather out. They can change so much in the first few months.

The views from the back remind me of my Shimmer girl. I never figured out exactly what color she was, I kept leaning toward blue fawn, but in light phase or harlequin phase, instead of basic blue fawn. Though Dizzy doesn’t have as much definition in her feathering…yet.

 

[Buckingham Palace]

What cuties.

 

[A little Daffy]

We are always here if you need any assistance!

Though you did so well with these that I think you'll probably do just fine. Now that you're a Call Duck owner, you'll have to join our Duck thread. I'll post a link.

Thread 'Duck Addicts Anonymous (DAA)' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/duck-addicts-anonymous-daa.1492311/

Shaw & Overo.... I must say I'm very impressed with all of the time, patience & advice that you have been giving to Cheems. That is a wonderful thing. You both are super sweet!
I too am a newbie by default. Mother duck abandoned her nest and I now have 3 eggs in an incubator.
I have no idea what I'm doing and I've been reading and reading. It's really helped me a lot to follow this thread and I'm hoping I will have the same success as Cheems.
Mine are Muscovy ducks (which people in my neighborhood like to kill) and I just put them in lockdown yesterday. It was day 30 from when I picked them up.
Fingers crossed!

 

[Painted Calls]

Shaw & Overo.... I must say I'm very impressed with all of the time, patience & advice that you have been giving to Cheems. That is a wonderful thing. You both are super sweet!
I too am a newbie by default. Mother duck abandoned her nest and I now have 3 eggs in an incubator.
I have no idea what I'm doing and I've been reading and reading. It's really helped me a lot to follow this thread and I'm hoping I will have the same success as Cheems.
Mine are Muscovy ducks (which people in my neighborhood like to kill) and I just put them in lockdown yesterday. It was day 30 from when I picked them up.
Fingers crossed!

Thank you for your kind words! Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[A little Daffy]

Well, I believe one or two pipped on Monday or late Sunday night. Nothing since. One is really moving around and it's day 33. It looks like it's pipped but I can't tell for sure. If it has, then it's way past the 24 hr mark for air in the pocket.
Am I just being too anxious or nervous or is this normal?

 

[A little Daffy]

Here's a pic.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Here's a pic.

If That’s the beak
If its been over 24 hours I make a safety hole
Just above the beak
Nothing big just the size of a sharpened pencil end
Enough air can get in but not enough to need ti moisten the membrane
Then leave it alone for 24 hours if nothing after that make the hole a bit bigger to the beak so you can see if baby is chewing still
Again not big dime size or less
I was able to candle the top side that faces up and I could see veins
Once those were cleared I continued
This isn’t always the case where you can see in
My last babies took 56-60 hours from internal pip
Most important thing is making sure they get air. Safety hole will do that
What end are you candling ? Air cell or narrow ?

 

[A little Daffy]

Oh poo. The duck started externally pipping yesterday. When I went to check on it, its bill is not close to the pip mark. Is this normal?