Assisted Hatching Help Please

[Knighstar679]

Hi I had an egg that I grew concerned about today after it's movement decreased a lot! So I put a Safety hole into the egg hoping that would give it a bit more life. It got it to move a bit more after an hour of being in.

I broke a way the very top part of the air cell to see what the membrane looked like so I could apply oil to it. and noticed it looked very dried out. So i applied it and then noticed that what I thought was a bill was really a leg in the air cell. My chick is upside down. I have attached a few pictures.

Am I going the right way with this I could really use a bit of help on this one. The other three are doing fine but this one here had a very bad strange air cell that just struck me as odd.

But membrane moist with oil and put back in the bator at about 70% (they are ducks) to try and keep things moist in there. A large chunk of the membrane has pulled away from the shell though almost enough to put a q-tip between it and the membrane, if that provides any extra information.
When I first opened it up and noticed a leg.

When I opened up farther to moisten more of the membrane. I see several large blood vessels still. So i did not want to mess with the membrane with out help. But I also don't want him to drown and die if I can help it.

 

[RubyNala97]

Yes, there are still a lot of veins in the membrane so the duckling is not ready. It’s really hard to help before they pip, either through the membrane or in your case through the pointy side of the shell (since it’s malpositioned). You can also see the yolk is still not absorbed in your pic. At this point you will carefully have to keep that membrane moistened and wait for the duckling to pip the shell. When ducklings are malpositioned sometimes you will see a bruise on the pointy end or mid section of the egg. If so, this is where the duckling is trying to pip. You need to wait for the duckling to make a pip somewhere or at least try to, so you know where the bill is. There’s not much else you can do. What breed and what day are they on? Did this info make sense?

 

[Knighstar679]

Yes, there are still a lot of veins in the membrane so the duckling is not ready. It’s really hard to help before they pip, either through the membrane or in your case through the pointy side of the shell (since it’s malpositioned). You can also see the yolk is still not absorbed in your pic. At this point you will carefully have to keep that membrane moistened and wait for the duckling to pip the shell. When ducklings are malpositioned sometimes you will see a bruise on the pointy end or mid section of the egg. If so, this is where the duckling is trying to pip. You need to wait for the duckling to make a pip somewhere or at least try to, so you know where the bill is. There’s not much else you can do. What breed and what day are they on? Did this info make sense?

Yes it did. They are on day 26 for these eggs. But this little guy passed early this morning.

The three other eggs he was with are doing good on hatching and seem to be right side up. One has even made its external pip the others are peeping and chipping away.

When I fully opened this guy he did not have a fully formed head at the back though the rest was a normal looking duckling. It was the egg that had the worse air cell so hopefully the others will be ok.

I will just have to let shipped eggs rest more days in the incubator before turning them. Was a hard lesson learned.

 

[RubyNala97]

Yes it did. They are on day 26 for these eggs. But this little guy passed early this morning.

The three other eggs he was with are doing good on hatching and seem to be right side up. One has even made its external pip the others are peeping and chipping away.

When I fully opened this guy he did not have a fully formed head at the back though the rest was a normal looking duckling. It was the egg that had the worse air cell so hopefully the others will be ok.

I will just have to let shipped eggs rest more days in the incubator before turning them. Was a hard lesson learned.

It’s a hard call with letting shipped eggs rest. How many days did you leave them? Too many days and the CAM won’t develop properly and they won’t hatch either. It’s such a catch 22! Also what breed?

 

[Knighstar679]

Welsh Harlequin I let them rest out of the incubator just under 24 hours and a little over before turning.

The ones that shipped from Texas had much worse air cells than the Maryland ones which where done on the same day the same way.

The new ones I have from Texas look better I let them rest 24 hours outside the bator and 2 days inside before turning. Air cells seem much cleaner this time.