3/6 silkie eggs started pipping today on day 20!

[christianj04]

Hi all. Just wondering if anyone has ha any experience with hatching silkies. 3 out of 6 eggs have pipped today. We've been out since 12 this mornin an come back at 7 pm an 2 of them have a small crack in the shell? And as we were back another has slightly cracked the egg? How long until they will hatch do u reckon? I don't want them dying in the egg humidity is between 75-80. Many thanks in advance

 

[Luckyduck2]

We have ducks and geese, but we do not use and incubator to hatch the eggs rather to let the birds do it themselves. So I do not have any experience using an incubator whatsoever. Usually once we see duckling/gosling heads start to pop out of the nest we wait a whole day and the next morning we move them to a more permanent location. After we move the babies and mother duck/goose, we check to see if any of the leftover eggs have pips (cracks) in the eggshell. If they haven't hatched by then it usually means that they are having trouble getting out of the egg. So if that is the case you can carefully peel the eggshell and membrane of from the chick. You will see blood, it's natural. I'd wait to see if anybody that has experience with hatching chickens in incubators posts though.

 

[christianj04]

Update : 5 out of 6 eggs have pipped now. Thers a tiny crack in them but still no more progress? How long does it usually take from wen pipped. I've read 2 hours but I know with 2 it's deffo been longer?

 

[Luckyduck2]

Well maybe it does have something to do with the humidity.

I have hatched duck eggs under a chicken before, and you have to spray them to keep the humidity higher. Hopefully we'll get somebody with some more experience in here. Until then, keep me updated!

 

[christianj04]

Thanks for reply. I tried hatching duck eggs few weeks back and it was a total disaster. Ducks need a lot more humidity. There eggs are a lot thicker I've noticed. I have hatched a few chickens before but I jus woke up to 3 fluffy chicks an didn't actually notice pipping etc. I jus hope these hatch

 

[Luckyduck2]

The membrane and the shell do make the duck eggs hard to crack. I've actually helped 2 geese and couple of the Pekins out of their shells before. Messy yes, but luckily it doesn't happen to often. Never had a problem with the Muscovy ducks. I am guessing that it is a problem with humidity. Did you buy hatching eggs off of somebody? Or do you have a laying hen? Silkies make good mothers, if you do have a hen you might want to try letting her incubate for you, you might get better results. Never tryed letting the chickens do it, so I don't know if other hens will cause a problem. If you do have a rooster he might try to mate the hen. I've got a muscovy drake that likes to try to mate this incubating goose we have...*akward* Anyways too completely different animals. Hope this helps!

 

[christianj04]

Just woke up to one hatched but the others haven't made any progress an hasn't cracked anymore of the egg??

 

[christianj04]

5 out so far lol. They fly out don't they!! Wen they know they wanna get out they jus pop out lol. Jus got 1 left but seems to have pipped a little low?

 

[Luckyduck2]

The last one may just be a late bloomer. And yes, they do seem to jump out, even though with ducks it's more like tumbling out of the shell. Pipped a little low? What side of the egg did it pip on? I think that they usually start at the rounder end of the egg, where the air sack is. Shouldn't be anything to worry about.

 

[christianj04]

All 6 have hatched now can't believe all of them made it. Will put pics up soon lol