Day !29! of a 28 day hatch, hellppppp

[blumoo1]

Hi there, I'm Jordan, I'm 16, this is my first time on Backyard Chickens and this is also my first time hatching campbell ducks (although I have kept ducks before). I bought 12 (two separate batches from different sellers with the hope to breed them naturally) eggs but unfortunately one entire batch had to be thrown out due to definite infertility. Two from the second batch were also infertile. One other sort-of-exploded (but not dramatically) so it was discarded a week ago. This left three, the three successful ones - or so I thought.

I got up early yesterday (day 28 of the hatch) to check them. One had made a few cracks in its egg, the others remained the same. That was the trend for the rest of the day. Then this morning (day 29 of the supposed 28 day hatch) and the one with cracks possibly had increased the size of the cracks but I'm not 100% sure. The others remained the same. Rather dismayed I went to school and when I came home the other two had made progress, with one completely pipped, a pea sized hole with the internal membrane across it. Should I assist with the one who made the cracks? Is my humidity wrong? I am using an Octagon turning incubator and I'm not 100% what size I should have the opening of the air vent as the instructions are hard to comprehend. Help guys.

 

[Amykins]

Hatching can take several days, don't worry! Also, 28 days is a baseline, sometimes they hatch early, sometimes late. If there had been NO activity, then you'd have reason to worry, but your 'lings have externally pipped!

One thing you can do is candle them, and see if any of the non-pipped ones are in the air cell. By tomorrow if those haven't pipped, then we'll go from there. Hopefully our resident hatching expert Lacrystol will have seen this by then, but if not I'll try to relay the same advice she gave me.

 

[blumoo1]

Thanks, I'll wait a bit longer. I can occasionally hear them cheep but it isn't frequent.

 

[blumoo1]

UPDATE

Egg 2 out of 3 finally pipped! I guess it's a schoolboy error of being too concerned too soon (however if I was more than 24 hours late for something I'd probably be in trouble). I do have another question, to anyone really. Would it be too risky to move the incubator? Currently it's in the garage about 100 feet from the house and our Irish nights are very cold, it's 10 degrees centigrade now and the sun is only setting and the garage isn't insulated. I would prefer the incubator to be kept in the house where there is a more constant temperature (actual room temp) and I can observe the happenings of the (potential) hatching. Is it viable to move them at this stage? Thanks for your help, let's hope Shelly, Eggbert and Yoko make it!

 

[Amykins]

Please don't move the incubator! At this stage, if the eggs shift or move around they can get confused and pip the wrong end, or stop pipping altogether. I'm so happy that your babies are all making progress! <3

Also, I love the names XD

 

[blumoo1]

Now day 30. All eggs have pipped. Soft occasional chirping. No progress in a few hours, when do I assist? One egg pipped over 12 hours ago, the others followed suit during the night (I live in the UK so it's early morning now).

 

[Amykins]

Dude, you're cool. Give It time! I think the general rule is, don't assist unless it's been 1-2 days without progress.

 

[enriquec]

Waiting is the hardest part.

Check out the two links in sig, good hatching info.

Keep us posted

 

[blumoo1]

Here's the update, 3/4 of the way through day 30 of a 28 day hatch.

A lot happier with progress, just back from school and the wee lads have been good fighters. Is this discolouration of the membrane normal?

 

[TheMallardMan]

I can offer no advice except good luck! I am incubating some mallard eggs and am on day 6, I'm sure I'll be exactly like you on day 25+