Advice needed - assist or wait it out. Duckling.

[JoJoM]

I have a runner duck egg in my incubator currently on day 27. This egg was very small (2.2oz). It pipped internally on Monday on day 25. I waited 18 hours and then put a tiny safety hole in the egg. It looks like it's having a hard time either getting through the membrane or getting into position to create the external pip because it still hasn't made one 36 hours hours later.

Do I do anything or just let nature run it's course? Your advice is always appreciated.

***Edit/update
I candled quickly and although it's peeping and hasn't pipped externally, I can see that it has repositioned itself a bit and there are still tons of very active veins in the egg. I will leave it be, up the humidity and let nature run it's course for the next 24 hours.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Good call. Active veins means it's not ready for assistance. Ducklings can take much longer to hatch than chicks, too.

 

[SilverBirds]

If it still has heavy veining, leave it be for now. Runner ducks normally take 28 days to hatch so he should be fine. Ducklings hatch a LOT slower then chicks, around 48 hours (sometimes longer) for them to go from pip to zip. Hopefully everything goes well!

 

[JoJoM]

I came home to find that the duckling had finally made and external pip. I have no doubt that the safety hole I made helped it get this far. A gosling has pipped too, so hopefully they hatch at the same time. I thought the duck was going to be really early and lonely.

 

[SilverBirds]

That's great!