Hatching duck eggs

[JLMorgan]

Good Morning! I am in the middle of hatching duck eggs in an incubator. My second clutch just finished hatching. I place 7 eggs in the hatcher that had already internally pipped with a couple that had externally pipped. My incubator was set at 99.5 temp and 68% humidity. After almost 24 hours, 3 had not externally pipped yet, so I put a safety hole in the air sac of each. 1 had already died. The other 2 were moving and chirping. I placed them back in the incubator. After about 14 hours, I candled the eggs again. Still both making noise and moving. I left them alone for the night. This morning I awoke to one of the eggs hatched, but the other one not. I candled it and it is dead. I am trying to figure out at what point I should have helped more. I did take apart the egg very carefully to see if the duckling was malpositioned. It was in the correct position with its beak towards the safety hole I made. The veins had absorbed. It was so close. Any advice would be appreciated. I have 2 more clutches to go. Thanks.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

It's so hard to know when to help. I would have done the same as you. Sometimes they just don't make it. I had one hatch out and literally started running around the bator and I stepped away for 5 minutes and it was dead when I returned. that was my first ever live hatch. Hopefully someone will be by soon with better advice.

 

[DuckyDonna]

@WVduckchick will know!

 

[WVduckchick]

Just saw this tag, my apologies. How are things going now?
I agree with @Magnolia Ducks it’s just very hard to put a time on it. I try to gauge it by the size and shape of the air cell. Once they’ve internally pipped, most air cells should be enough air for 24 hours, but if the space is small, I might intervene sooner, if progress has slowed. If the air cells are plenty big, I may wait longer. And also candling the shape of the membrane can give a hint if the duckling may have problems getting out. If the membrane is kinda wonky and sinking around the body, ya know? It’s tough to explain, and sometimes you just have to trust your gut. I don’t think I would have done anything differently than you did. And unfortunately, some just don’t make it. The perils of incubating.