Backwards duckling!!! PLEASE HELP!!!

[FernbergFarms]

Okay. I’m trying not to open the incubator at the moment because it’s first sibling pipped this morning!! So I’m not sure how it’s doing.
Does the purple concern you all? Or the saddle shaped air cell?

 

[Raysal]

Okay. I’m trying not to open the incubator at the moment because it’s first sibling pipped this morning!! So I’m not sure how it’s doing.
Does the purple concern you all? Or the saddle shaped air cell?

Thats great that you see movement make sure humidity is at the right level to help it come out

 

[FernbergFarms]

I checked the egg and it looked the same. I thought I felt it moving (maybe it was my shaky hands) but it didn’t look like it internally pipped in the air cell.

 

[Trisseh]

I’m not getting notifications again.

Deep breaths and distractions help when you’re trying to wait to hatch out ducklings. Lol. I had one that took 3 days from internal pip to emerging from the egg. He did just fine. It is far better to wait than act too soon. If you’ve got an external pipper wait for that guy to hatch and then check on this egg you’re concerned about. I’ve had eggs with extremely screwy air cells hatch with no issues whatsoever so I wouldn’t be concerned about a little saddle.

as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers sang ... the waiting is the hardest part

 

[FernbergFarms]

@Trisseh does the purple on top concern you?

 

[Trisseh]

The purple is over the air cell, correct? I’ve had chicken eggs with an outwardly visible air cell closer to hatch if you looked at it the right way, with a slightly different color. Weird but not a cause for concern. Sometimes discolouration is from it going bad too, though, so keep your nose ready in case it starts to smell.

It also may be backwards in there for now but it also may turn in the egg into the correct position. If conditions aren’t optimal, sometimes you’ll have a straggler which may be all this egg is, if it’s viable.

are you for sure seeing movement? Sometimes I find it better to set the egg down (somewhere it can’t roll!) or into a carton and shine my light on it and wait. Sometimes if you tap the egg you’ll get a little foot or head movement. Definitely hard to tell if you’re holding it and shaky though. Haha. I’ve got really shaky hands too so I know the feeling. xD

 

[FernbergFarms]

@Trisseh no. It’s over the top small end not the air cell. I’m not sure if it is moving or not because I thought I felt it moving in my hand but I want sure. Then I thought I heard it chirping bc it sounded like it was chirping from the other side of the incubator but that could’ve been a different egg too. When I candled it it wasn’t moving and I tapped it and still didn’t move. It was actively moving last night. I can touch it for a bit bc one of my eggs are pipped and looks like probably will zip here pretty soon!

 

[Trisseh]

hm, odd color changes. Hard to say then. I assume it developed the spots recently, when you created the thread, and didn’t have them when you began incubating? I have a terrible short term memory and I’m too lazy to go read through again. Haha. (Sidenote, I gave myself a heart attack one time when I used pen on a duck egg to mark the air cell. I had misted them and picked one up and got freaked out for a second until I realized I had made the ink run... Haha. Don’t use pen. Lol)

my 3-day hatch took longer because I was impatient and opened a viewing hole in the air cell. He wasn’t ready (at all) so I put tape over it and put him back in. But messing with them can mess with them to the point of doing damage, even if you don’t do anything extreme, so it’s hard to know what the best option is for you with this one.

I think if I were to start picking at it, personally, I would be opening it up enough to see (doesn’t need to be a very big hole) and then I shine my light from the side and see what I can see. Alternatively, I would maybe pick a tiny bit of shell off over the bruised area, being extra careful not to puncture or nick the membrane underneath. That option is more risky.

I’m not sure what to recommend as the best course of action for you here. The conservative approach would be to leave it alone and sit on your hands, distract yourself with the others once they hatch. A little more daring would be to open up the air cell just enough to get a peek and see if it’s moving around in there. Daredevil level would be picking away some of that shell and seeing what the membrane looks like. Keeping in mind that the more you do, the higher the risk that you may cause damage inadvertently, no matter how careful you are. I killed a chick once that way when I first started because I was impatient and didn’t start carefully from the air cell.

 

[FernbergFarms]

@Trisseh yes I noticed it turning purple last night. So should I just wait? Or....
Thx for all the advice I am so new!
Alli

 

[Trisseh]

Maybe start with candling on a stable surface so you can see if there’s actual movement or not? And then proceed from there, with whichever option you’re most comfortable with. If you do decide to open the egg at all, starting at the air cell end is always best, even if you do wind up going further and picking at the shell at the dark spot later. I would be tempted to candle it tonight with it stable, and leave it til tomorrow if it looks ok, then proceed from there. That would be day 27 for these right? Same as inducing labour in other critters, we don’t want to push them too fast if they’re not ready!
And remember, no matter what we do, sometimes the outcome is not what we would like to see, no matter how hard we try. It’s been said often on here that hatching is not for the faint of heart.