First time hatching! Ducks

[Orca5094]

Sorry, double post! I thought it lost my first response so I wrote it all again. Thanks evil computer!

 

[Orca5094]

My third egg finally broke the shell.
First egg is making more progress then second one, it broke the shell and I can see the outer membrane, it is white though, not clear.
The second egg has moved a little bit a few minutes ago, but still has not made a true hole, it has cracked the shell in three different spots, but no hole, I can see a little bit of the membrane, it is kinda brown.

Glad to hear there has been some progress on all of them! When you say "first egg", do you mean the first one to pip or the one on the far left?

White outer membrane is normal, it's the inner membrane right under that which is clear and has the little blood vessels. When that white membrane starts to turn brown that means it is getting dried out and will be harder for them to hatch out. Is it brown right where it is currently pipping, or in another area where it has already moved on from? If it's brown where it's currently pipping you might want to spray around the inside of the incubator again real quick to add some more humidity. Don't spray the eggs themselves at this point, the little guys could drown if the water gets into their bills.

Making small cracks around the egg is a more normal way to pip. They crack it all around (without making big, true holes) and then push off the top and pop out. So that one sounds like it's doing a great job. Are the cracks in some sort of line around the egg?

The egg in the new pic (the one I suspect is malpositioned) could be stuck in that spot and that is why it has made such a big hole in one place. My last duckling to hatch last year looked pretty much exactly the same. She also pipped the wrong end of her egg and just made a big hole in one spot. After 36 hours from her initial pip it became clear she was stuck in that position and needed help. I proceeded to help her hatch very slowly over the next 12 hours or so. She is now 6 months old and my friendlies, most favorite duck ever! Anyway, just keep an eye on that one since it pipped in a weird place. I really hope it starts turning in there and unzipping soon!

 

[NikkiCole5]

The middle egg is now a baby duckling!
I used tweezers to peel off pieces of shell and as soon as I did that it broke the membrane, hatched about 15 minutes ago, there is poop in the shell though, I don't know what that means?
No blood, actual poop. The duckling is sleeping now, the "first" egg is the one on left and all it is doing is poking it's bill out the hole, no zipping.

The middle egg, duckling

The first eggs progress

 

[Orca5094]

The middle egg is now a baby duckling!
I used tweezers to peel off pieces of shell and as soon as I did that it broke the membrane, hatched about 15 minutes ago, there is poop in the shell though, I don't know what that means?
No blood, actual poop. The duckling is sleeping now, the "first" egg is the one on left and all it is doing is poking it's bill out the hole, no zipping.

The middle egg, duckling


The first eggs progress

YAY!! Congrats on the new little one! Poop (and often boogery-looking goop) at the bottom of the shell after they hatch is normal.

Ok, I really think that first egg is possibly stuck in place inside it's egg, but how long has it been since it initially pipped now? I always like to give them more time to let them hatch on their own because that is best, but once it reaches 36 hours after in initial pip it might be time to help it out a little. It's a very slow, careful process though. It's all outlined in that link I posted yesterday if you want to read up on it, just in case.

How's the last one that pipped doing?

 

[NikkiCole5]

I gently peeled the shell off of the first egg, I found out why it hasn't moved, it has been shrink wrapped? I would assume that's what it is, I peeled off some outer membrane and wet the inner membrane, it still has veins, I don't know if it will survive, I put a wet towel around it and put it inside a small cup back in the incubator, but it is trying really hard to get out of the egg, but it's navel is red and has a small hole, so I don't think I can save this little guy, it already has it's leg out of the shell

 

[Orca5094]

I gently peeled the shell off of the first egg, I found out why it hasn't moved, it has been shrink wrapped? I would assume that's what it is, I peeled off some outer membrane and wet the inner membrane, it still has veins, I don't know if it will survive, I put a wet towel around it and put it inside a small cup back in the incubator, but it is trying really hard to get out of the egg, but it's navel is red and has a small hole, so I don't think I can save this little guy, it already has it's leg out of the shell

Yes, it's shrink wrapped when the membrane dries onto the duckling and they can't move to continue hatching. That's an indication the humidity was too low. Oh boy, well you did the right thing wetting the membrane and putting him back in the incubator. The navel area will shrink and close up on it's own fairly quickly (within 12 hours), so don't stress too much about that. It just means it wasn't quite ready to come out of the egg. At least the yolk sac was completely absorbed, right? No big yellow blob hanging out of it's navel? Having a slightly open navel at hatching is not the end of the world. If you have any betadyne you can slather on the area later on (next time you need to open incubator) that will help make sure no infection gets in there. But really, they usually close up just fine on their own with no problems as long as they're kept in a clean environment.

Try not to open the incubator again so you can keep that humidity up for the last guy, ok?

 

[NikkiCole5]

It kicked out by itself, all I did was remove the shell and pieces of the outer membrane.

This is a farther away picture, the duckling that hatched it's keeping it's neck to that side only, I don't know if it's normal and will fix itself or if it's a sign of problems?

 

[Orca5094]

It kicked out by itself, all I did was remove the shell and pieces of the outer membrane.

This is a farther away picture, the duckling that hatched it's keeping it's neck to that side only, I don't know if it's normal and will fix itself or if it's a sign of problems?

They are very tired and sleep for hours after hatching, sometimes even looking like their dead. As long as they're breathing they're ok. Again, I wouldn't worry too much about the neck at this point, it's probably just very tired and resting in that position. There is a condition called wry neck, but you will know within a day if that is the problem. Usually curled feet and weak necks will fix themselves after a day or two. They have to uncurl from being stuck inside that egg for so long.

 

[NikkiCole5]

Yes, it's shrink wrapped when the membrane dries onto the duckling and they can't move to continue hatching. That's an indication the humidity was too low. Oh boy, well you did the right thing wetting the membrane and putting him back in the incubator. The navel area will shrink and close up on it's own fairly quickly (within 12 hours), so don't stress too much about that. It just means it wasn't quite ready to come out of the egg. At least the yolk sac was completely absorbed, right? No big yellow blob hanging out of it's navel? Having a slightly open navel at hatching is not the end of the world. If you have any betadyne you can slather on the area later on (next time you need to open incubator) that will help make sure no infection gets in there. But really, they usually close up just fine on their own with no problems as long as they're kept in a clean environment.

Try not to open the incubator again so you can keep that humidity up for the last guy, ok?

Thank you again for all the help!

 

[NikkiCole5]

Do I take the first egg out of the cup tomorrow or leave it?