Day 28, should I assist hatch?? Really worried

[Inga123]

Hello! I have a duck egg on day 28. No internal pip. Yesterday morning (24+ hrs ago) he was trying to like crazy to internally pip. I thought for sure he would internally pip by night time but he still hasn't! He is still trying like crazy though! The air cell is now saddled. I think he is trying so hard that it's making it pull away from the shell or something?? I'm not sure but the more he struggles the larger the saddle is becoming. My humidity is fluctuating from 65-72. I'm worried he is stuck in there. I lost my first 2 eggs with no internal pip so I'm extremely worried. Should I assist??? I'm willing to do anything it takes to get him out safe! Please help! I'm so worried I'll wait to long doing nothing and he won't make it. Thanks!

 

[WalnutHill]

That's a tough one, but if it were me I think at this stage I would break into the air cell, see what is going on, penetrate the inner membrane if necessary and if blood vessels have receded, then cover the opened egg with a damp paper towel and set it back in the incubator.

 

[Inga123]

Ok thank you so much! I've been reading that if they haven't internally piped then not to assist, but with the way he is struggling I think he wants to pip but just can't.

 

[WalnutHill]

I think you are right, because that much struggling should have led to an internal pip.

 

[Orca5094]

I don't know, this is a tough one. I personally wouldn't assist unless they were internally pipped for 24 hours with no progress. The whole 28 days incubation is just a basic guideline. Sometimes they can hatch out 1 or 2 days early, sometimes 1 or 2 days late. It's when they've been internally pipped for more than 24 hours without externally pipping that you kind of want to make a tiny "safety hole" in the shell so they don't run out of oxygen in the air cell. But if it hasn't even internally pipped yet, I just think I'd give it more time. But that's just me.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I don't know, this is a tough one. I personally wouldn't assist unless they were internally pipped for 24 hours with no progress. The whole 28 days incubation is just a basic guideline. Sometimes they can hatch out 1 or 2 days early, sometimes 1 or 2 days late. It's when they've been internally pipped for more than 24 hours without externally pipping that you kind of want to make a tiny "safety hole" in the shell so they don't run out of oxygen in the air cell. But if it hasn't even internally pipped yet, I just think I'd give it more time. But that's just me.

x2 I would only put a safety hole in an internally pipped egg as a last resort, so in my case, I wouldn't touch an egg that hasn't even internally pipped, (not and expect to be able to "save" it). Even after they have been externally pipped for hours their vascular system is very prominent. The possibility of not causeing a chick/duck to bleed out when it hasn't even internally pipped is astronomical. Not to mention the fact the chick/duck's system has not had the time to gradually change pulmonary function to breath air using it's lungs. I'm with you, I'd give it more time.

 

[Inga123]

Ok im going to wait. Im just so scared of doing nothing and it not making it. Ill try and take a pic of what its looking like.

 

[Inga123]

 

[Inga123]

Ok so in the pic i have drawn 2 lines. Those r showing how much it has saddled since yesterday morning. Can u see how there is 3 different colors? Top: ducky, bottom: air cell, then in between the two lines i drew u can see, i dont know, the sac the ducky is in?? That part keeps bulging like crazy into the air sac. Does any of this look or sound normal? I really dont know

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Ok so in the pic i have drawn 2 lines. Those r showing how much it has saddled since yesterday morning. Can u see how there is 3 different colors? Top: ducky, bottom: air cell, then in between the two lines i drew u can see, i dont know, the sac the ducky is in?? That part keeps bulging like crazy into the air sac. Does any of this look or sound normal? I really dont know

That is not "saddled." That is the normal process of the air cell drawn down in preperation of the internal pip. An egg's air cell should naturally be drawn down or angled on one side. It is at this lowest "dip" in the air cell that you usually see the internal pip. My recommendations would be to let the egg be, make sure that the humidity is up in the bator and give it time. Since it has not internally pipped yet, I would not expect to see an internal pip anytime today. (Often external pips won't be seen until 24 hours after the internal pip.). Even if the baby was in distress, at this point, without the proper things haveing taken place (absorption on veins especially) there would be little you could do to change the outcome. There is a higher chance you would prevent a successful hatch on the premise that it is in trouble which may/may not be the case.