Duck Egg Day 27 - Malpositioned? shrink wrapped? needs help?

[Kare0608]

Ok, i have read just about anything i could find on hatching and i might just be over worried or what not but this egg did not look like anything i've seen in forums or google or anything.

I will try to post a picture as soon as i can.

The air cell was progressing nicely and was large enough by lockdown day. Humidity was 45-55% during the first 25 days and temp was at 37.5 degrees (give or take a .2). I had to go into lockdown 12 hours early as the incubator kinda crapped out on me (it lifted the humidity to 70%-76ish% and the temp down to 37.0/36.9ish - which kinda worked out a little too perfectly if you ask me). From what i have read it's not entirely a bad thing to go into lockdown too early, i was only hours away.

Anyways, on Day 26 i stuck a flash light through my arm hole that i built into the incubator and saw that the air cell at this point literally covered half the egg, as if it detached itself from the sides of the inner egg and now it covers the duck like a blanket inside. i don't believe the duck internally pipped at all, it started externally pipping the egg on the only side of the egg that the air cell didn't cover. i'm going to assume this was because the air cell was no longer penetrable from the inside of the egg as it was no longer attached to the inside of the egg and just covers him. Is this shrink wrapping???

I helped him this morning just a little, peeled away some egg shell and membrane from the external pipped area, you can hear him chirping and see the tip of his beak. I also read that if they are pipping on the wrong end, the hole must be cleared enough for him to get his entire beak out in order to get air since it didn't penetrate the air cell to breath. Should i pull back more egg shell to let his entire beak out?? I don't want to lose this little guy - it was the only egg that survived from the mommy and daddy that were met with an untimely demise

What do i do? Should i assist more? should i let it's beak out? i know it's way too early to help him completely, he is still absorbing and resting and still has time.

 

[Amiga]

How are things now? Could you post over on the Duck Forum? There are more duck hatchers there, like @Lacrystol @Orca5094 @WVduckchick

 

[WVduckchick]

So its been a few hours, sorry I never saw this. But what's going on now? As long as he has enough room to get his bill out and breath, I would leave as much shell intact as possible so he will stay moist and allow him to finish absorbing everything.

What kind of duck also? And incubator details would be great too! Pics would be awesome! Good luck!

 

[casportpony]

Have you read this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Here is one of mine that was mildly shrink-wrapped.




Here it is after I moistened the membrane. Note that there are no veins visible, which is a pretty good indicator that it was ready to hatch.




-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

This one is shrink-wrapped and couldn't reach the shell to pip.







This one was shirink wrapped and had it's foot over it's head (this picture was taken after I moistened the membrane with sterile saline.)


-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

More info:
http://www.justcockatiels.net/assist-hatches.html

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

I am no expert, but it's important to remember that the "28 day" thing is meant to be a guide, it's not a hard and fast rule. I think many here have stories of their eggs taking less time than that, as well as some that have taken longer. FWIW, my last batch of duck eggs went just 26 days.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

So its been a few hours, sorry I never saw this. But what's going on now? As long as he has enough room to get his bill out and breath, I would leave as much shell intact as possible so he will stay moist and allow him to finish absorbing everything.

What kind of duck also? And incubator details would be great too! Pics would be awesome! Good luck!

X2. The pictures I posted were meant to show what a shrink wrapped membrane looks like. You probably shouldn't peel away shell like I did until you have some of the more experienced hatchers look at some pictures of your egg.

-Kathy

 

[Kare0608]

Sorry for the long wait, its been a very long day and night. He was definitely piping on the wrong end, never piped internally! Thanks to all your suggestions he JUST came out. Will post picture of him as soon as i get home. I regret not taking photos of the candled egg before the external piping. This took hours of peeling and waiting and then peeling some more. Noticed after a few hours he still wouldnt rotate himself which gave me no choice but to assist the entire hatch. Kept the membrane moist the entire time, broke enough of the egg that he still had to get himself out (I wanted him to at least try something himself) took him about 12 hours just b to untangle his head from underneath his right wing and wiggle it out of the egg so he could stretch out. Layed half in the egg until now absorbing the rest of the yolk. He is beautiful and alive .