Hatching ducks

[leahwill]

Yesterday our baby duck had the external pip. Now his whole beak is out and changed from yellow to black. He's just sitting there breathing. No peeping. He moves every once in a while. The egg around his pip is starting to change colors, maybe just becoming thinner. I can see darker areas through the egg. How much longer will it take once they get this far? My son has a basketball game but doesn't want to go because he's terrified he'll miss it. The other egg we have isn't doing anything yet and this is day 2 of lockdown.

 

[dotknott]

2 days in lock down, so day 27?

Starting with the one that hasn't done anything, candle and see if there's an internal pip, or at least movement.

As far as this one goes it’s not uncommon for a duckling to take a long break before unzipping. Hatching is serious work. The problem we have at this stage is knowing if it’s safe to help. Trying to help before the yolk sac has been absorbed or the veins in the outer membrane have recessed can be fatal. Based on the photo, the duckling hasn’t even started to unzip, so he doesn’t seem to be in a rush. What's your humidity at? Darkening around the pip is common in my experience, and it's usually because the membrane is drying out. That can be bad if it dries too quickly.

 

[leahwill]

Our humidity is ranging from 58-60%. We have both holes open. Temp is 98.5 most of the time. I would have to open to add more water... this morning I barley picked up edge to throw a hot wet sponge in because it dropped to 49 over night.

 

[leahwill]

This shows the darkening I was talking about.

 

[dotknott]

Okay! So I know it's called LOCKDOWN, but I'm a little loosy goosey with the LOCK aspect of it. Others may disagree. I'm okay with that, but if opening your 'bator means that you can add H2O to increase humidity, then I'm okay with that too.

 

[leahwill]

Our baby is no longer moving... what do I do. It never zipped... only piped it's been over 24 hiurs

 

[dotknott]

Not moving but still breathing?

 

[dotknott]

You can try to peel back some of the shell but be careful. If you see blood or veins stop.

 

[leahwill]

No the baby has died. He was no longer breathing. When we took him out everything peeled off easy. No bleeding or anything. Looks like the whole yolk was still there. So the second one we candled and it's still moving. Tomorow is day 28 but still no pip. I have one sad little boy on my hands. He worked so hard to get it right.

 

[dotknott]

I'm so sorry.