Day 27, Duckling just popped out of his egg like The Hulk!

[Sjanel74]

We are shocked. He went from an external pip to a zip in 12 hours and unzipped in less than an hour! He is peeping away and stumbling around the incubator.

Do I leave him in there for awhile? Only one other egg has pipped. Do the 8 other eggs still have a chance to pip and hatch? It is Day 27.

Thanks!

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Congrats on your duckling!

He should be fine in the incubator for, conservatively, 48 hours. I generally remove hatchlings to the brooder once they're dry and fluffy to free up room in the hatcher and so they don't kick hatching eggs around.

Assuming the eggs are from a mallard-derived breed (which typically take around 28 days to incubate), and all were set at the same time, other viable eggs could take as long as up to a few more days to hatch. And you may already know that waterfowl tend to hatch more slowly - though your duckling clearly didn't get the memo - than chickens, so patience is needed. Best of luck with your hatch.

 

[CoopsNPoops]

My first incubation chick did that. It was so fast i barely got time to press record. I checked on it after it externally pipped. I checked the progress again about 30 mins later and it was completely unzipped and had the shell detached and kicked open. It did a big push, i pressed record, and with another hulk kick it was out

 

[Sjanel74]

Thank you both! We woke up to a second, bright yellow duckling this morning, healthy and VERY vocal. Three more eggs have pipped. I’m so happy and relieved as the waiting and wondering really did my head in .