Yeah I'm not sure why I did either. I really was sure they had internally pipped but I was extremely wrong. I'm just glad they are both still alive and shaking their eggs. This is my first time incubating and I guess the nerves and excitement of seeing my baby ducks really just had me screwing stuff up too much. I have them completely locked down now so I just hope I didn't do too much undo harm tonight.
How many days does it take for duck eggs to hatch?
Prepare yourself for that egg to quit. If the other hatches are you able to find a day old duckling some where?
Yes, if this one ends up quitting I do have a place I can get some new born babies from just in case.
Around 28 days I believe. So 4 more days and they would have been out. But I guess now I just keep them in lock down and see.
All of this is very very good info that anyone going into hatching should research. And glad you are able and willing to take your time to explain to others that knowledge in detail. But it should also be stressed that eggs have been hatching for many years without our help. And assisting in most cases is done as a last resort not as normal hatching process especially for those that are so new to incubating. So much more harm is done by assisting from novice and experienced hatchers than good. So, we need to be very careful how we put this info out to other less experienced, we must really dig into their circumstances to really help their specific situations.@SammyKay
Don’t stress out about it
We all learn from our mistakes
My first hatch went wrong every way possible
I helped one to much to soon and she passed away an hour after hatching
The next one had a bruise at the wrong end and I was told to make a safety hole but I was to scared to hell after the first one
That one died cause I didn’t help
Luckily I found a great member on here who had a tons of patients with me
I had 2 more that needed assistance and 2 that hatched themselves
She helped me through it all
I have since then hatched well over 60 babies between myself and the schools I set up
I have great success
I did learn don’t incubate your ducks first eggs
Way to small and this caused me all my assistance issues
It’s great to look up videos on internal pips. This helps to really know the difference
Often 3 things to watch for before the internal pip
1- egg will start rocking or moving around
2- you will see shadowing along the bottom part of the air cell
3- the air cell itself will grow really fast suddenly
These are signs when I start lockdown ( I don’t follow the book of day 25 ) I follow my eggs
24-48 hours after these things is when you will find internal pip
You can also watch the bottom shadowing movements
Little flickers here and there are normal movements
Up and down in a rhythm is breathing
When baby is ready to hatch it begins to breath a bit
This is when they either internal pip or if they don’t get turned proper they will make an external pip outside the air cell ( some bruise the egg and need safety holes made )
Biggest things I have learned is be patient. These little guys take a long time to hatch
48-72 hours after they start breathing
Also once lockdowns happens I don’t pick up my eggs
I candle in position if I need ti check them. This way I’m not confusing them while they are getting into hatch position
Many babies have still hatched when holes have been made to early
Others have passed
All we can do is wait now and cross fingers they hatch
Keep us posted
Try to relax
I agree
