Candled egg and it's pure black but I can hear noise inside...should I be worried?

[lina500]

We have three duck eggs being sat on alternately by a duck and goose (see my previous post). One has pipped and is working its way out of the egg but the membrane is very thick and tough so I made a tiny hole in the membrane to help it (it had already gotten out of the shell). The other two have pipped internally and I can hear them working away inside. But when I candle one of them it looks pure black inside, I can't see any air sac. Should I be worried? Should I break it a little air hole or leave it alone?

 

[lina500]

I just took the eggs inside for a minute so I could candle them better and the one that looked black has actually internally pipped and is trying to get out, but is covering most of the shell. It was the same 24 hours ago. At what point should I put a tiny hole in the egg? I'm worried because the last two rounds of eggs hatched by the mothers were mostly shrinkwrapped and died.

 

[angierfind]

If it hasn't piped in 24 hours help it by creating a very small hole on the air sac (bigger side of the egg)
So I guess that would be now. Only make a pip in the egg and let the duck work it out , in 24 hours if he still doesn't hatch out you can help him but he probably won't survive :/

 

[lina500]

Thanks, I will do that. I think the situation is confused by having so many mothers sitting on the egg, but our goose hatched a duck egg a few weeks ago, but only one of three actually made it out of the shell. I know I shouldn't interfere, but I am hoping more than one survives this time.

 

[angierfind]

Thanks, I will do that. I think the situation is confused by having so many mothers sitting on the egg, but our goose hatched a duck egg a few weeks ago, but only one of three actually made it out of the shell. I know I shouldn't interfere, but I am hoping more than one survives this time. 

yeah that sounds about right...I'm definitely not a goose expert but with the switching of the mothers that would make any animal confused haha. I hope everything works out keep me updated!!

 

[ShannonR]

Ok first, my disclaimer. I have limited experience with ducks, but did keep them for a couple of years.

My thoughts are, it almost sounds like you are having a humidity issue. I know that sounds strange as they are being brooded by waterfowl but shrink wrapping is a petty clear indicator of low humidity.

Taking them out from under the bird during hatching, is that like the equivalent of opening the incubator during lockdown? I don't know, but it sounds counterintuitive to disrupt the eggs during hatching.

In the wild, most duck breeds nest very near water, and often come back to the nest wet to sit on their eggs. A pond to emulate that might help in the future, if you don't have one.

For these eggs though, what about getting the eggs wet in the nest? A damp paper towl under the eggs in the nest maybe?

 

[angierfind]

Ok first, my disclaimer. I have limited experience with ducks, but did keep them for a couple of years.

My thoughts are, it almost sounds like you are having a humidity issue. I know that sounds strange as they are being brooded by waterfowl but shrink wrapping is a petty clear indicator of low humidity.

Taking them out from under the bird during hatching, is that like the equivalent of opening the incubator during lockdown? I don't know, but it sounds counterintuitive to disrupt the eggs during hatching.

In the wild, most duck breeds nest very near water, and often come back to the nest wet to sit on their eggs. A pond to emulate that might help in the future, if you don't have one.

For these eggs though, what about getting the eggs wet in the nest? A damp paper towl under the eggs in the nest maybe?

So my thoughts on that statement. You have to be very very careful opening an incubator during lockdown and should avoid it but I have done it for a few seconds and everything was fine. My advice would be to take the egg out and do your thing BUT do everything with a damp warm paper towel covering the egg while you're making the hole, to ensure the eggs humidity

 

[lina500]

I have a barometer in my house and the temperature is currently 90 degrees with 66 percent humidity, so I'd say outside, under the ducks/goose it should be very humid. But they also haven't had great access to water because the pond isn't super close to them and we've had a drought so it's getting low. I just put a big bowl of water (big enough to bathe in) next to the duck house so hopefully they will get the humidity up on their own. I should have done that from the beginning.