Day 28 no movement no pipping?

[Orca5094]

Yes, no helping! But yay for the first pip! As long as they make that little crack in the shell, they are getting air and are OK. They usually rest for awhile now, up to 24 hours, before starting to "unzip".

As for your broody, ducks do not adopt ducklings unless they hatched under them. Or if you are able to sneak them under the hen while she sleeps on her eggs. That does sometimes work, but you have to be very careful because they will attack ducklings they don't think are theirs. You could always give it a try, you never know. I think your hen will be too stressed if brought inside when she isn't used to that. I seriously doubt it would work, unfortunately.

 

[Twoandhelp]

Ok maybe I won't bring her in then. She probably wouldn't love it. I just didn't know how maternal they were. I had three that just made a tiny crack- not even a hole this morning. For one it's been over 12 hours. Should I at any point peel back one of the tiny shell pieces to make sure they are getting air? I've been reading the thread about assured hatching and I know it's generally not a great idea, it's just hard- they weren't even tapping much this morning. If I knew my humidity I'd feel better. Dumb hydrometer.

 

[Orca5094]

I would not peel off any shell fragments, no. Sounds like they are doing just fine on their own. The initial external pips are just tiny cracks in the egg shell which allows fresh air in for the duckling, so try not to worry. It's all normal! And like I said before, they often rest for about 24 hours between each step of hatching, so even the one that's been over 12 hours since externally pipping is doing just fine so far.

Opening the incubator unnecessarily right now will cause your humidity to drop drastically, so you shouldn't do it for any reason (only if you must add water though, of course, and then only once a day very quickly). As long as you still have condensation on the incubator windows, the humidity should be high enough.

You're doing fine, just keep sitting on those hands! I know it's hard to resist, but 99.8% of the time they do not need our help.

 

[Twoandhelp]

Look normal? I was scared it looked dried out so I added a couple damp paper towels. But I'm also worried the humidity is too high. His beak is rubbing against the membrane, just hasn't poked through

 

[Twoandhelp]

We got back from town and we see this? Blood? I promise I'll have this more figured out by the next hatch!

 

[venymae]

It's fine! Go take a long walk outside! Go shopping. Ask a friend to meet you at the coffee Shoppe to chat. Go grocery shopping. Clean out your car. PlAy cards with your housemate. Just leave your eggs alone!

 

[Orca5094]

It's ok. Sometimes they break tiny blood vessels when pipping, but nothing to worry about with such a tiny amount. Membranes look fine too, they will turn darker tan if they get too dry. As long as they're making progress they are OK. You can add a clean, damp sponge to add more humidity if you feel the need. They stay wet much longer than paper towels.

 

[Twoandhelp]

Ok, good to know about the sponge.bI ended up helping- most hadn't made any progress in over 24 hours so I pulled back the shell in a couple places to see dried membrane. I wet it and made a very tiny hole and saw the inner membrane looked shrink wrapped to the chick. I made a hole big enough for the beak but don't know what to do about that inner membrane. I don't want to hurt them. My hydrometer had said the humidity was right throughout incubation, but very obviously that was wrong. They are all still peeping but haven't made my hole any bigger. I feel bad since it's my fault they can't hatch! Will they live if I help with that? I thought I'd wait til I got off work in 6-7 hours

 

[Twoandhelp]

And the outer membrane was tan just about everywhere i moved shell. Out of 9 eggs, 4 seem to have heathy ducklings, 2 died after pipping and 3 never pipped at all so I don't know if they're alive or not- thought I heard tapping but maybe that was wishful thinking. . Everyone's beaks are clear now so I'm hoping they'll be fine since they can breathe til I get back.

 

[venymae]

And the outer membrane was tan just about everywhere i moved shell. Out of 9 eggs, 4 seem to have heathy ducklings, 2 died after pipping and 3 never pipped at all so I don't know if they're alive or not- thought I heard tapping but maybe that was wishful thinking. . Everyone's beaks are clear now so I'm hoping they'll be fine since they can breathe til I get back.

Look up the assisted hatching guide by Sally sunshine. It's for chicks but most of it will apply to ducks also. READ IT FIRST!