Broody Duck Near Hatch Questions

[CochAddict]

When I separated my Black East Indie from her aggressive male counterpart (a Pekin) she decided to start hiding her eggs and eventually sitting on them. I don't know the exact day that she started sitting but I estimate it to be sometime in the first days (maybe 2nd-5th) of May as I candled the eggs on 5/9 and saw very early development. I have been candling them a little here and there when she is off the nest but it is not easily accessible so not much. Saturday evening around 6 pm I spooked her replacing her food and water so I did a quick candle and to my surprise, the two eggs I checked had internally pipped. Not sure when exactly they pipped, but ducklings were active in the air cell. I replaced them and left her to it. Yesterday morning she did a quick swim and I peeked in without candling and saw no external pips. So here we are Monday 7:30 AM and no ducklings (that I can see/hear but I am trying to not bother her so not getting very close). I am starting to worry I disturbed them by her hopping of the nest for a minute on Saturday. My questions are:

Is this a normal timeline for ducklings or should I intervene?
If the ducks have hatched underneath her, should I be able to hear/see them?
Anything else I should do now?

Thanks for reading!

 

[ronott1]

Ducks can be very nerve wracking! longer times between the stages for both internal pipp and external pip to hatching.

It sounds like things are going well with the broody hatch

 

[FortCluck]

It can take 48-72 hours from internal pip. They’re very slow hatchers and will wear on your patience.

Everything sounds like it’s going good. You’ll have ducklings soon!

 

[CochAddict]

Thanks to both of you, I'm so relieved to hear everything is progressing normally! I will leave her alone for now.

 

[CochAddict]

5 healthy babies hatched out early this morning

 

[ronott1]

5 healthy babies hatched out early this morning View attachment 2173217