Help! Air cell’s too small but duckling’s still Alive trying to pip!

[WVduckchick]

No, no, no, not 6-12 hours!! That’s way too soon to assist.
I wait at least 22-24 before even opening the air cell. Assisting calls is a very long process. Don’t rush it.

 

[WVduckchick]

Oh ok that’s good! The air cell hasn’t dropped yet, it was dropping a little before but now it’s stopped possibly because of the slight increase in humidity. I’ll keep an eye out for any signs of zipping, if there isn’t anything then I’ll probably have to assist at 24 hours but in 18 hours I think I’ll remove a tiny bit of the external pip just so I can see inside and make sure the duckling won’t wind up blocking its hole when turning and wind up suffocating.

18-24 is a general guide of when to create a safe hole if they internally pip but don’t externally pip. If they don’t zip after 24 hours of external pip, I base it more on activity, peeping, size of the air cell, size of the pip, etc. Picking off a bit of the pip to check inside is ok, just to make sure breathing is not impaired.

 

[Croissant]

No, no, no, not 6-12 hours!! That’s way too soon to assist.
I wait at least 22-24 before even opening the air cell. Assisting calls is a very long process. Don’t rush it.

Oh - I wonder why it says 6-12 on this guide I found on here? But I was planning to wait longer - haven’t done anything yet because with the last two eggs we waited 24 hours before assisting.

18-24 is a general guide of when to create a safe hole if they internally pip but don’t externally pip. If they don’t zip after 24 hours of external pip, I base it more on activity, peeping, size of the air cell, size of the pip, etc. Picking off a bit of the pip to check inside is ok, just to make sure breathing is not impaired.

Oh ok got it! I’ll wait till it’s dark to pick off a bit of the pip, at the moment I think the duckling is fine, checked earlier and they were tapping away.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Oh - I wonder why it says 6-12 on this guide I found on here? But I was planning to wait longer - haven’t done anything yet because with the last two eggs we waited 24 hours before assisting.


Oh ok got it! I’ll wait till it’s dark to pick off a bit of the pip, at the moment I think the duckling is fine, checked earlier and they were tapping away.

Could you provide a link to the guide? I don't know why it would say that

Could to hear they're doing well, though!

 

[Croissant]

Could you provide a link to the guide? I don't know why it would say that

Could to hear they're doing well, though!

Here! https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/helping-call-ducks-hatch.50481/

They were talking about how they tend to do it. By the way, I accidentally opened up the crack a bit too much when I was making a hole to see in better, is this still alright?

It was quite difficult removing the pieces where the pip was

 

[Croissant]

 

[Croissant]

Could you provide a link to the guide? I don't know why it would say that

Could to hear they're doing well, though!

@WVduckchick im a bit worried because the duckling is breathing a lot heavier than it was before, is that normal?

 

[WVduckchick]

@WVduckchick im a bit worried because the duckling is breathing a lot heavier than it was before, is that normal?

How long has it been now? Any more progress?
It can appear to be breathing harder, but it’s hard to say for sure whether it’s normal or not.
The pip looked good, I see a couple spider cracks, which usually means it hit the shell pretty hard. Which is good. Can you tell if the bill and nares are completely out from under the membrane?

You’ll likely have to continue the assist from here on out, so just take it slow and easy. You got this!

 

[Croissant]

How long has it been now? Any more progress?
It can appear to be breathing harder, but it’s hard to say for sure whether it’s normal or not.
The pip looked good, I see a couple spider cracks, which usually means it hit the shell pretty hard. Which is good. Can you tell if the bill and nares are completely out from under the membrane?

You’ll likely have to continue the assist from here on out, so just take it slow and easy. You got this!

There hasn’t been any progress, it’s been about 23 hours since the external pip I believe, and the beak is definitely out, even saw it pop out of the whole when I checked in on the egg. I’m going to start assisting now, I think it should be fine? I’ll take off the shell round the air cell and send a picture here as I go along! And thank you, I hope it goes smoothly again! By the way, do I need to slowly introduce the new duckling to my other two? Considering they’re a whole month older.

 

[Croissant]

How long has it been now? Any more progress?
It can appear to be breathing harder, but it’s hard to say for sure whether it’s normal or not.
The pip looked good, I see a couple spider cracks, which usually means it hit the shell pretty hard. Which is good. Can you tell if the bill and nares are completely out from under the membrane?

You’ll likely have to continue the assist from here on out, so just take it slow and easy. You got this!

The duckling is in a bit of a funny position with its feet over the head - aside from that no visible veins compared to the first two I’d hatched