RoslinRose
Hatching
- Sep 8, 2016
- 7
- 0
- 9
PLEASE READ! I NEED HELP! This is my first time hatching duck eggs and I may have made a fatal mistake!
One of my chickens decided to start laying with duck eggs and I let her set on three. Two were duds and so I have been so worried about my one survivor. My little ducky is supposed to hatch real soon, well that's what I thought. It is on at least day 24 and I don't have an accurate timeline to follow because I don't know the breed of my ducks, for all I know it could take a lot longer for him to be ready to hatch. Anyways Wednesday at 8:00 PM I went to check on him, I candled him and noticed his air cell had gotten quite a bit larger and I saw little shadows in the air cell. I instantly thought he had internally pipped and I was ecstatic!
I waited 24 hours making it Thursday at 8:00 PM and he still had not externally pipped. I searched every where for how long I should wait to assist and I was just to worried to wait any longer, for fear he would run out of oxygen. I got a pair of sharp tipped tweesers and gently scratched at the eggshell(at the air cell of course) just until I could chip away a small hole. I looked inside and, surprise! He hadn't even internally pipped.
He was pushing at the membrane so hard, it had only made it look like he pipped. So now I have made a hole for oxygen to get in and dry the membrane. I know that ducklings can have a really hard time getting out of membranes that are either to wet or to dry, so I don't know what to do now. I really thought he had internally pipped and needed help externally pipping. he was pushing really hard at the membrane so maybe he was about to pip, or is having trouble? I feel so terrible! Is there any way he might still survive?
it is just a small hole, about half the size of my pinky fingernail. Please any advice or knowledge would be greatly appreciated!!!
One of my chickens decided to start laying with duck eggs and I let her set on three. Two were duds and so I have been so worried about my one survivor. My little ducky is supposed to hatch real soon, well that's what I thought. It is on at least day 24 and I don't have an accurate timeline to follow because I don't know the breed of my ducks, for all I know it could take a lot longer for him to be ready to hatch. Anyways Wednesday at 8:00 PM I went to check on him, I candled him and noticed his air cell had gotten quite a bit larger and I saw little shadows in the air cell. I instantly thought he had internally pipped and I was ecstatic! I waited 24 hours making it Thursday at 8:00 PM and he still had not externally pipped. I searched every where for how long I should wait to assist and I was just to worried to wait any longer, for fear he would run out of oxygen. I got a pair of sharp tipped tweesers and gently scratched at the eggshell(at the air cell of course) just until I could chip away a small hole. I looked inside and, surprise! He hadn't even internally pipped. He was pushing at the membrane so hard, it had only made it look like he pipped. So now I have made a hole for oxygen to get in and dry the membrane. I know that ducklings can have a really hard time getting out of membranes that are either to wet or to dry, so I don't know what to do now. I really thought he had internally pipped and needed help externally pipping. he was pushing really hard at the membrane so maybe he was about to pip, or is having trouble? I feel so terrible! Is there any way he might still survive? it is just a small hole, about half the size of my pinky fingernail. Please any advice or knowledge would be greatly appreciated!!!
