Help! Call duck eggs day 24 with two eggs at dif stages!

[Croissant]

Hi! I’m new to hatching ducks, and this is my first time trying to incubate eggs! I’m really really worried however, I have two eggs that are on day 24 and another two that I collected later that are on day 21. Of the two on day 24, one of them hasn’t shown any changes in their air cell but the second seems to have a drastic decrease and I can see movement.
This is the first egg:

This is the second egg - that was actually developing a lot faster than the first egg (had the eyeball showing a day earlier, showed the embryo earlier etc.):

I thought the air cell was supposed to reduce around day 27 but I’m worried with the second egg the duckling might get shrink wrapped, and increasing humidity would affect the other eggs including the one that still hasn’t reduced the air cell. And you can still see veins on all of them. Is this normal??

 

[casportpony]

@WVduckchick, @Pyxis, can you help?

 

[WVduckchick]

Call ducks normally hatch in 26 days. I’d increase the humidity on all of them when I see the first internal pip. A couple extra days on the later eggs shouldn’t hurt much.

 

[Croissant]

Call ducks normally hatch in 26 days. I’d increase the humidity on all of them when I see the first internal pip. A couple extra days on the later eggs shouldn’t hurt much.

Oh I didn’t realise! I was looking online and they were saying to stop turning on day 25 and put the eggs in lockdown till day 28. Does that mean the first egg is the one with the problem?

 

[WVduckchick]

Oh I didn’t realise! I was looking online and they were saying to stop turning on day 25 and put the eggs in lockdown till day 28. Does that mean the first egg is the one with the problem?

Most ducks are 28, but calls are usually 26.
I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you are asking. I see that the air cell is small, but it’s too late to do much about it. Just have to hope for the best. By now they should be getting ready to pip, if your temps were good and consistent throughout.
Do you still see good movement inside all the eggs? Are they pressing against the membrane next to the air cell?

 

[Croissant]

Most ducks are 28, but calls are usually 26.
I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you are asking. I see that the air cell is small, but it’s too late to do much about it. Just have to hope for the best. By now they should be getting ready to pip, if your temps were good and consistent throughout.
Do you still see good movement inside all the eggs? Are they pressing against the membrane next to the air cell?

There is movement with the other eggs it’s just with the one with the small air cell that I can’t really tell. If I made a small hole at the top, would that help?

 

[WVduckchick]

There is movement with the other eggs it’s just with the one with the small air cell that I can’t really tell. If I made a small hole at the top, would that help?

No. Do not make a hole in the shell before it breaks the internal membrane itself.

The only thing I could suggest at this late stage is maybe rubbing the bloom off the egg to allow more moisture to release, but you don’t really have much time for it to make much difference. It would be nice if the air cell was a bit bigger, but it’s not necessarily a death sentence. It will lessen the time I’d wait before assisting, if it comes to that, but it could very easily hatch on its ow. without any problems.

 

[Croissant]

No. Do not make a hole in the shell before it breaks the internal membrane itself.

The only thing I could suggest at this late stage is maybe rubbing the bloom off the egg to allow more moisture to release, but you don’t really have much time for it to make much difference. It would be nice if the air cell was a bit bigger, but it’s not necessarily a death sentence. It will lessen the time I’d wait before assisting, if it comes to that, but it could very easily hatch on its ow. without any problems.

What do you mean by the bloom? And how do I get it off? How long should I wait before assisting - should I only assist if the duckling internally pips and if the duckling hasn’t some that on day 26 or even 28 despite the egg that was put in on the say day having done so, what should I do?

 

[Croissant]

No. Do not make a hole in the shell before it breaks the internal membrane itself.

The only thing I could suggest at this late stage is maybe rubbing the bloom off the egg to allow more moisture to release, but you don’t really have much time for it to make much difference. It would be nice if the air cell was a bit bigger, but it’s not necessarily a death sentence. It will lessen the time I’d wait before assisting, if it comes to that, but it could very easily hatch on its ow. without any problems.

I’ve got one egg that’s internally pipped! There’s a second egg that hasn’t pipped yet (it’s the one that I put in teo days after - not the ones I sent photos of above), but the air cell hasn’t reduced as much as it should, it’s still receding and I can see shadowing. Should I increase the humidity now or?

 

[WVduckchick]

What do you mean by the bloom? And how do I get it off? How long should I wait before assisting - should I only assist if the duckling internally pips and if the duckling hasn’t some that on day 26 or even 28 despite the egg that was put in on the say day having done so, what should I do?

The bloom is the protective coating on the egg shell when the hen lays the egg. It’s not really noticeable, but think of it like lotion on your hands. If it is wiped off, it exposes more of the pores in the shell and allows more moisture to escape from inside the egg. Kinda like washing lotion off your hands exposes your skin to wind, sun, etc.
We don’t normally wash eggs before incubating because it also allows for possible bacteria to invade the egg, etc, so it’s best to leave it as is. But late in the incubation process, sometimes it is worth it. I think you are past that possibility now though.

I’ve got one egg that’s internally pipped! There’s a second egg that hasn’t pipped yet (it’s the one that I put in teo days after - not the ones I sent photos of above), but the air cell hasn’t reduced as much as it should, it’s still receding and I can see shadowing. Should I increase the humidity now or?

Now that one has internally pipped, you should increase humidity. If you don’t have another incubator to put the later eggs in, they really should be ok with the increase, since they are only a couple days behind.
Congrats on the pip and best of luck!