Hands on hatching and help

[LilyD]

The 7 eggs have been pipped since Tuesday night. I made the safety hole on Wed night so assistance would start tonight or tomorrow.
I have them on a live feed here

 

[Mysticalsys]

If you see no progress by tonight I would peel a little bit of shell around the safety hole off just to help them a little bit

 

[aart]

@LilyD have you seen this?:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

 

[LilyD]

@LilyD have you seen this?:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

Yes in fact it was after reading that that I decided Wed night to make safety holes. I hadn't heard about that before and when I started in chickens everyone would have chased me out of the room if I suggested helping a chick hatch. But it makes sense if the biggest reason eggs die late in incubation is from suffocation. A safety hole makes total sense.

 

[LilyD]

Okay was worried about them not moving as much so I opened up the eggs to help them a bit and remoistened the membranes which were white with coconut oil. Looks like they are still absorbing their yolk sac and blood vessels but I am concerned about the one on the bottom right. That chick is backwards in the egg and it was their knee I was seeing not their beak. They aren't even pipped yet. Tell me I didn't just kill it. All the others are happily chewing and look like they need to absorb a little more of their blood vessels.

 

[LilyD]

All the other ones look as expected beaks are out and chewing and they are still absorbing their blood vessels.

 

[Mysticalsys]

Have any of them hatched yet?

 

[LilyD]

No I lost 3 last night after I opened the shells up. One was huge and was malpositioned the other two just stopped shortly after I opened the shell. The other 4 are doing well blood vessels receding and are stretching or chewing and yawning.

 

[Mysticalsys]

What type of ducks are they?

 

[LilyD]

Muscovy