Ahhhh! 2 of My Eggs Pipped, But Aren't Due Til Friday Night

[Lolliegee]

Yikes! I went turn the eggs for the last time and 2 of them have pipped. One of them on the narrow end...does that mean it won't survive? Oh, I hope they're ok. Please reassure me.

 

[horsejody]

There is hope. Give them a chance. Sit on your hands for now.

 

[stormie]

Ducks usually pip about 48 hours before hatching, so it is normal.

 

[Lolliegee]

I know not to try to help them. I wouldn't do that. I'm just scared for it, since it didn't come through the end with the air pocket. I was just hoping someone had had the same thing happen and their baby had come through fine.

 

[chicklady63]

Sometimes you do need to help them. I have done it before with some of my nicest birds & they were no sicker, or weaker, or in any way deformed, etc., than any of the ones that hatched on their own. (I have a really nice Polish chick & a silkie chick in my brooder right now that I helped out two weeks ago; they seem to be fine, so far, so good. I think you just have to keep an eye on the eggs & try to do what you feel is best at the time. It's often a judgment call & sometimes the chick still does not make it.
The British magazine Poultry Press had a two-issue article about assisting hatches one time a few years ago, with pictures included. (You can watch how others do it on Youtube. There is even a video of a lady helping a twin egg hatch which was a double yolk egg that had both yolks fertilized & two separate chicks developed, so there was one chick coming out from the narrow end like yours.) She shows you in great detail how she did it.
Most importantly you have to be careful when you see fresh blood & stop a while (a hour of so) & put them back in the incubator. Then carefully try it again a little later on. The one pipping at the small end may especially need your help.
Good luck - I hope they all make it.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I have only 'had' to help two of my ducklings, and both of those died. I wouldn't help them at all. I had one pip near the small end, and then it managed to turn and pip the right end after all. If they are due Friday, you should have stopped turning them yesterday, not today. But they usually pip internally by day 25, then externally a day or so after that.

ETA: And in my experience, they usually take a minimum of 24 hours to hatch after first pip.

 

[Lolliegee]

I'm starting to get really excited now. I had to leave earlier for a few hours and when I got back, one more had pipped. I'll be watching the one that pipped at the narrow end closely. If I do end up helping any, it will be VERY conservatively. I'm wishing I had candled one more time...so I could've known that they had internally pipped. Oooh, I can't wait to see my babies. I sure hope they all do well (there's only 6 of them).

(this is me cheering them on)

ETA: Oh yeah, and I hadn't actually turned them today, so they were last turned about midnight last night.