Day 30 and no sign of duck hatchlings. What's wrong??

[ChicagoDucks]

Thanks so much for your reply I candled and floated last night. No pips in the air cell but when I float them 2 low float and move a tiny bit. This is why I think they are shrink wrapped. So my question at this point is can I assist if they haven't pipped the air sac?? And yes the one with yellow patch is one of the sinkers. But when I say sinker I mean they sink to the bottom with a little bit of buoyancy. Interestingly enough 2 nights ago these 2 sinkers moved! But not last night. Thank you!

That's tough. If they are shrink-wrapped before they've pipped internally, I would worry about whether their lungs have developed at all and if they'd be able to survive any assistance you give them. I suppose you could pip the shell through the air cell and see what the membranes look like and go from there. If they are shrink-wrapped, be cautious when you open the membranes. You don't want to break any blood vessels that are still attached to the membranes, and you probably only want to open the membranes enough to allow the duckling to breath and finish absorbing her yolk sac. Overall, it doesn't sound promising, I am sorry to say.

There are a few things that can lower the success of your hatch. Eggs that were shipped in the mail can be damaged in transit, and they won't hatch as well. Washing the eggs before they go into the incubator can cause them to dehydrate too quickly and dry out. If the eggs were not turned, then it would prevent the duckling from developing properly. Of course it is important to have the right temperature and humidity.

 

[ChicagoDucks]

How did it go with your eggs, Stratham? What did you decide to do?

 

[Stratham zoo]

Well I gave a last ditch effort and raise the humidity and candled and floated one last time. And no nothing! So I decided to perform my first egg topsy, since I wanted to know what I did wrong. Peeled the shell at the air sac end and the membrane seemed pretty dry but I have nothing to compare a good one vs dry one. Any photo sources for that? It was white. Not opaque at all. I wet membrane w q tip. Saw no movement and decide to explore through the membrane. I found all 4 were fully developed and in position. I'm so sad because I probably could have saved them 3 days ago. So does it sound like I had a humidity issue to you? You know looking back my humidity was too high day 1-26 then prob them and humidity too low from there out. I got them from a persons yard that lived in rural Mississippi while visiting a relative. Would like to try again as this was an incredible experience for my daughter and me both. Thank you SO much for your concern throughout. I didn't feel so alone

 

[ChicagoDucks]

Well I gave a last ditch effort and raise the humidity and candled and floated one last time. And no nothing! So I decided to perform my first egg topsy, since I wanted to know what I did wrong. Peeled the shell at the air sac end and the membrane seemed pretty dry but I have nothing to compare a good one vs dry one. Any photo sources for that? It was white. Not opaque at all. I wet membrane w q tip. Saw no movement and decide to explore through the membrane. I found all 4 were fully developed and in position. I'm so sad because I probably could have saved them 3 days ago. So does it sound like I had a humidity issue to you? You know looking back my humidity was too high day 1-26 then prob them and humidity too low from there out. I got them from a persons yard that lived in rural Mississippi while visiting a relative. Would like to try again as this was an incredible experience for my daughter and me both. Thank you SO much for your concern throughout. I didn't feel so alone

I know that you are disappointed with the outcome, but I think you did the right thing with this hatch. For your first hatch, you only incubated a small number of eggs (much better than losing a lot of eggs), and you picked up the eggs from a farm (much better than paying a fortune for shipped eggs that are harder to hatch anyway) and, most importantly, you learned a ton about the process.

I don't think there is much you could have done differently. Because they never pipped internally, I don't think assisting the hatch 3 days ago would have improved success all that much. It could be that the high humidity early on affected development.

The best thing to do would be to try again. I'd recommend waiting until March or April--that is when you'll get the best eggs with the best chance of success. Before you get your next batch of eggs, run your incubator for two weeks to make sure that you have the temperature and humidity set just right.

Here are some pictures of assisted hatches and dry membrances: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching