Brown spot inside internally pipped egg?

[DuckyMama4]

We had 9 duck eggs in the incubator, 6 a few days ahead of 3. The 6 “further ahead” eggs hatched yesterday and one today. I noticed yesterday morning that the other three eggs had all internally pipped. Yay! Two of those eggs externally pipped last night and this morning but the third egg has not. It has been internally pipped for near 36 hours from noticing. Two of the first 6 also took about 36 hours to externally pip so I haven’t been super concerned. But, it has now developed this brown spot inside the air cell, where I would expect the pip to be? I can still see breathing in the air cell and the little bill at times.

Is it time to help this little one?

 

[JaeG]

As long as the duckling is still moving it sounds like it's fine, but if you feel like it isn't as responsive and it isn't making much noise when you talk to it, I would make a safety hole. 48 hours is the longest you can leave them.

If you do decide to make a safety hole (and that egg shell is stronger than you might expect so go slowly using something sharp to drill into the shell well away from the duckling) then just be aware that doing so can make them not hatch by themselves. I had one I had to make a safety hole for because it was sounding weaker, and it had been 48 hours from the internal pip, then he just sat there for another 48 hours until I hatched him out.

 

[JaeG]

I actually have not heard this one make any sounds yet. It is still breathing, and I still see some flashes that I think is the bill in the air cell. There is definitely movement within the air cell I am just not sure I’m convinced it is a bill. I am going to leave it until morning and then will probably add a safety hole… if it is still with us. The spot is getting larger. Could this be blood?

I wondered about it being blood but it's a bit of a strange place for blood as it's in the air cell from which the veins would have receded already. So I'm not too sure what's going on there. Hopefully it's just one of those weird anomalies.

The bill will be quite apparent when the duckling has pipped internally. Hopefully there will be some progress by morning.

Let me know how you get on.

 

[DuckyMama4]

We have pip!! A very large one!

The spot looks like a little less streaked. It does not seem to have spread further.

I’ve been candling from the sides of my incubator so it’s been difficult to get the angle just right. I was able to confirm, on my last peek before bed, that it was the bill!

 

[DuckyMama4]

Little one hatched sometime early this morning! My husband woke up to use the restroom and I guess when he walked passed the incubator there she was just staring up at him. She is fitting in nicely with her siblings and I already cannot tell which one she is!

I wondered about it being blood but it's a bit of a strange place for blood as it's in the air cell from which the veins would have receded already. So I'm not too sure what's going on there. Hopefully it's just one of those weird anomalies.

The bill will be quite apparent when the duckling has pipped internally. Hopefully there will be some progress by morning.

Let me know how you get on.

I really appreciate the help and reassurance with this little one! Our hatch was successful! 9 eggs went in and 9 adorable little ducklings came out!!

 

[JaeG]

Little one hatched sometime early this morning! My husband woke up to use the restroom and I guess when he walked passed the incubator there she was just staring up at him. She is fitting in nicely with her siblings and I already cannot tell which one she is!

I really appreciate the help and reassurance with this little one! Our hatch was successful! 9 eggs went in and 9 adorable little ducklings came out!!

That's fantastic news! I bet they are super adorable. Well done on an awesome hatch.

 

[DuckyMama4]

I was just looking at my photos thinking about how I should have included a picture of the little darling. It appears as though I did not get one of just her alone. I think she is the little brown one on the far left of the photo. She has three sisters in there who look identical so it is getting a bit difficult to tell them apart.

 

[JaeG]

I was just looking at my photos thinking about how I should have included a picture of the little darling. It appears as though I did not get one of just her alone. I think she is the little brown one on the far left of the photo. She has three sisters in there who look identical so it is getting a bit difficult to tell them apart.

Thanks for the photo. They are so sweet. I wonder what colour the lighter ones will end up being?

 

[DuckyMama4]

I have another thread in the duck forum about them and thanks to some help I learned that they are all sex liked ducklings. Our drake is a khaki Campbell.

Most of the babies, so far, belong to our Rouen and Welsh hens. From what I can find the girl Rouen crosses will probably look like mom but lighter. The boys seem to look more like a mallard. For the welsh crosses I believe the girls will look like a KC but in various shades of brown. The boys look like a KC drake but with more mallard colors.

Our Pekin hen appears to carry the dusky allele and her eggs hatched out looking just like KC ducklings. The difference is her boys are very dark and her girls are light.

We also have a black Swedish hen but it seems we have not hatched any of her eggs yet. I hope we have a couple in the mix. There are still 9 eggs to hatch. They will also be sex linked but should hatch looking like a Swedish.

I am very excited to see them feather out and see the differences in them. I haven’t been able to find much on the different crosses but what I have found it seems these are the most likely possibilities.

 

[DuckyMama4]

By help, I mean make a safety hole.