Help! I opened my incubator during lockdown. Will my ducklings be okay?

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

Is it normal not to hear any noise from the egg after the duckling has internally pipped?

 

[Pyxis]

Sometimes they will peep but not always. Usually they will peep if you tap on the shell. If you hold the egg up to your ear you'll be able to hear it.

 

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

Okay. It's been almost 24 hours since I noticed that one of my duck eggs internally pipped. Still no movement or noise. No external pip. Should I candle the egg or give it more time? If it's still alive, should I put a safety hole in the air cell?

 

[Pyxis]

I saw your posts in the hatching thread that you did put safety holes in and that's good, it is what you should have done. How are things going now?

 

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

When I woke up this morning, one duckling had externally pipped. Now I'm just waiting patiently to see what happens.

 

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

Just looked in the incubator again. A second duckling has now externally pipped.

 

[Pyxis]

Great!

 

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

Yay! A third duckling has just externally pipped!

 

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

A fourth duckling has now externally pipped. All four that have pipped are ones that I put safety holes in. I'm not sure if the other three have even pipped internally yet. I couldn't tell when I candled them last night, so I didn't put safety holes in them. Hopefully they're okay and start progressing soon.

 

[Georgina Fritznoodle]

A fifth duckling has externally pipped now. Two more eggs that haven't pipped.
Two ducklings are making some progress. They've each made a hole big enough to stick their bills out once in a while.