Help! I shouldn't have "helped"

[WineChicks]

Today is day 30 and I panicked and after much reading here I decided to see if I could help with the hatch. Of the 12 duck eggs that I set, only one was fertile so I'm really hoping for this little one! When I candled, the egg was too full and too dark to see anything. I didn't think that there was movement. When I peeled back some egg, I could see that the baby was alive and there are still tiny veins in the membrane. What have I done now? I've moistened the membrane abd put the egg back in the incubator but will the baby be ok with a hole in its shell? Is there anything else that I should do?

 

[KansasKid]

You made the whole in the air cell end correct? and didn't see that the baby duckling had pipped through that membrane correct?
The best thing to do now is to take a moist wash cloth and wrap it around the end of the egg to cover the whole.

A rule of thumb i use before helping is that i wait till the birds have at least internally pipped (you should see the little bill shadow when candling). If they don't internally pip i just assume its gods way of saying it wasn't meant to be. Now as far as waiting for it to externally pip i usually wait a day and a half or so at most, and if i don't see them external pip after this time i usually just poke the tiniest of wholes around the air cell to get them going on zipping. now after a day of there being a whole in the egg but no more from the little duckling i will step in and take my tweezers and remove some egg shell that used to be the air cell and see how the little one is doing and to see if it still has prominent veins. If it still has prominent veins i leave it in the incubator until i can't see them any more, the worst thing you can do is try and peel back that membrane and pop a vessel/arterie

 

[Birdcrazy]

What breed is your duck? I know normal ducks hatch on day 28 or 29 (dodgy memory) and muscovies on day 35.
I know some people use duct tape or some sort of glue if they have an egg that has a hole or crack in it - i've had to use duct tape and the duckling was fine, but that was in a nest situation.
Since yours is so close to hatching period perhaps leave it in the bator and keep it moist to avoid any shrink wrap problems and hope for the best - just keep an eye on it
Good luck for the lil baby!!

 

[Denninmi]

At this point, the best thing you can do is to just keep it moist and leave it be. If it goes longer and you still don't see an external pip, but the baby is peeping and seems to be struggling, then you might consider helping some more. At this point, if its a normal, healthy duckling, you probably haven't done major damage, since you didn't seem to break and blood vessels. The biggest issue for the moment is just that the hole you made will encourage the membrane to dry out and shrinkwrap, so be sure to keep the humidity tropical steamy humid in there.

Good luck. Keep us posted and we'll all try to help if we can.

 

[WineChicks]

Thank you all. KansasKid, yes to all of your questions. I've covered the hole lightly with a moist paper towel and bumped the humidity as high as it can go. For now I'll watch to make sure it doesn't shrink wrap and hope for the best. Birdcrazy, I was given the eggs so I'm not positive. The woman who gave them to me said that she had khaki campbell & cayuga ducks.