First time Hatcher with several questions!

[Nuggletmama]

I have a duck egg that should be very close to hatching day (not 100% sure the day it was layer as I was out of town).
Started seeing yellow in air cell, is this normal? What do I need to know about this?
Also, looks like a tiny bruise on the opposite end of egg from air cell (I’d say the bruise size is smaller than a pencil eraser). Is this an internal pip attempt? If not, what is the cause??
Saw movement a couple days ago but it’s hard to see in. Haven’t noticed any movement since….

 

[Nuggletmama]

My fingers are crossed
If baby can breath air it has a chance to survive
Keep me posted in the morning how it’s doing

As of morning, no progress… I wish I would’ve found this site before yesterday so I could’ve asked on here sooner to know what to do. This is my first hatch though, so I’m learning as I go! I had a broody chicken sitting on the duck eggs but I wasn’t at home when the first one hatched out. I found it as soon as I got back home, and was just a tad bit too late to finding it. It had a hole in its head, and I didn’t know if the chicken did that or what so I brought the rest of the eggs inside to finish hatching. Only 4 eggs remained viable. One hatched successfully hatched 4 days ago, waiting to see what happens with the one that tried to pip wrong end, and waiting game on the last 2 two

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

If you see yellow on the air cell but no Shadowing or beak trying to get in and a bruise at the wrong end it maybe trying to pip the wrong end
Can you take a picture of the bruise
Candle the egg and tell me what you see along the air cell
Flicker movements or breathing movements

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Oh boy
So that does look like baby tried to pip the wrong end and if you are not seeing any slight flickering movements baby may have passed. But give it a try to help in case
Make a small safety hole in the middle of that bruise. You should hear scratching or small peeps of baby is ok
This egg I’m showing you I made a small safety hole in the first bruise then 24 hours later it made a second bruise and I made a hole there for the beak to get air. This baby took 52 hours to hatch and she is now 5.5 months old

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

You can make the hole a little bigger
But this is tricky cause it’s not the air cell so there will be veins
Pick a little shell off then wet the membrane. I like to use coconut oil as it allows me to see the veins better but Vaseline works too
If no veins you can open that membrane this will help you to see if baby is alive
If it is then you can look for the beak to make sure the beak can get air
I slowly kept picking shell away every few hours making sure if I saw any blood veins I stopped and let those go down before going further
If you do hit a vein and it’s bleeding apply pressure with a Q tip to stop

Don’t feel bad as I was in the same boat as you in December
I had 6 eggs all made it to lockdown
My first one internal pip but not external and I had to assist but I helped to much to soon and didn’t know to keep the yolk from drying that baby died in an hour
Baby 2 I had help from @WVduckchick and the full assist went good
Baby 3&4 hatched themselves baby 5 had a bruise at the wrong end and I didn’t know what that meant and she died baby 6 another full assist and again with help he hatched great
Then the eggs mom was on only 3 made it to hatching. 2 internal pips but never external and died. Last egg had a bruise at the wrong end and I took the egg the second I saw that and got help again to hatch her took 52 hours and she had a tiny yolk left but this time I knew to keep her in a bowl and cover with dry paper towel. She was squished and rapid breathing and that’s why we brought her out a little early but she was absorbed in a few hours and did great
The ones I did assist other then baby 1 that died are all thriving and my girls are even laying eggs now
They are 6 months and baby Hope is 5.5 months
Wvduckchivk was my saving grace and kept me calm and confident to try hatching again
I did learn though don’t hatch young birds eggs as they are not big enough for babies to get turned and into position
Those eggs were 58-68 grams now my girl lays 72-78 grams and 98 % don’t need help. If they do it’s usually right at the end they zip forward instead of around and that’s a foot in the wrong position but easy to help and no stress as they are absorbed and ready. But those are far and few

 

[Miss Lydia]

@New duck mommy 2021

@shawluvsbirds

 

[Nuggletmama]

Oh boy
So that does look like baby tried to pip the wrong end and if you are not seeing any slight flickering movements baby may have passed. But give it a try to help in case
Make a small safety hole in the middle of that bruise. You should hear scratching or small peeps of baby is ok
This egg I’m showing you I made a small safety hole in the first bruise then 24 hours later it made a second bruise and I made a hole there for the beak to get air. This baby took 52 hours to hatch and she is now 5.5 months old

Thank you so much for your help/insight! Made a safety hole and think I heard a weak peep attempt.. but not 100% sure as I think I only heard it once so couldn’t confirm with a second peep. I’m thinking it might not make it if it hasn’t passed already, but fingers crossed Will give update if there is any progress!

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

My fingers are crossed
If baby can breath air it has a chance to survive
Keep me posted in the morning how it’s doing

 

[Nuggletmama]

You can make the hole a little bigger
But this is tricky cause it’s not the air cell so there will be veins
Pick a little shell off then wet the membrane. I like to use coconut oil as it allows me to see the veins better but Vaseline works too
If no veins you can open that membrane this will help you to see if baby is alive
If it is then you can look for the beak to make sure the beak can get air
I slowly kept picking shell away every few hours making sure if I saw any blood veins I stopped and let those go down before going further
If you do hit a vein and it’s bleeding apply pressure with a Q tip to stop

Don’t feel bad as I was in the same boat as you in December
I had 6 eggs all made it to lockdown
My first one internal pip but not external and I had to assist but I helped to much to soon and didn’t know to keep the yolk from drying that baby died in an hour
Baby 2 I had help from @WVduckchick and the full assist went good
Baby 3&4 hatched themselves baby 5 had a bruise at the wrong end and I didn’t know what that meant and she died baby 6 another full assist and again with help he hatched great
Then the eggs mom was on only 3 made it to hatching. 2 internal pips but never external and died. Last egg had a bruise at the wrong end and I took the egg the second I saw that and got help again to hatch her took 52 hours and she had a tiny yolk left but this time I knew to keep her in a bowl and cover with dry paper towel. She was squished and rapid breathing and that’s why we brought her out a little early but she was absorbed in a few hours and did great
The ones I did assist other then baby 1 that died are all thriving and my girls are even laying eggs now
They are 6 months and baby Hope is 5.5 months
Wvduckchivk was my saving grace and kept me calm and confident to try hatching again
I did learn though don’t hatch young birds eggs as they are not big enough for babies to get turned and into position
Those eggs were 58-68 grams now my girl lays 72-78 grams and 98 % don’t need help. If they do it’s usually right at the end they zip forward instead of around and that’s a foot in the wrong position but easy to help and no stress as they are absorbed and ready. But those are far and few

I’m sorry for a late response, but yesterday I easily picked away the shell to find that baby didn’t make it. I’m afraid I didn’t get the safety hole made soon enough, but I am glad to know what I should do to help for future hatching issues regarding the wrong end pip. The last two eggs have externally pipped so we will be watching and waiting for babies! I’m so glad you found help in your situations, and have gained knowledge on hatching! I greatly appreciate all of your help/insight!!

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I’m sorry for a late response, but yesterday I easily picked away the shell to find that baby didn’t make it. I’m afraid I didn’t get the safety hole made soon enough, but I am glad to know what I should do to help for future hatching issues regarding the wrong end pip. The last two eggs have externally pipped so we will be watching and waiting for babies! I’m so glad you found help in your situations, and have gained knowledge on hatching! I greatly appreciate all of your help/insight!!

Sorry for your loss of the little one

It’s great you have two starting the hatch
Can’t wait to see pictures