splitdriedfruits
In the Brooder
- Sep 19, 2023
- 4
- 4
- 11
I can hear the duckling chirping faintly, occasionally. The egg wiggles. I can see it breathing rhythmically when I candle it through the incubator. But there’s still no external pip! It internally pipped at least 28 hours ago. I made a tiny safety hole 27 hours ago.
There is a small yellowish bruise that appeared today, but it’s in the air cell. I thought bruises only appear when they try to pip in the wrong place?
The red arrow is pointing to the bruise I’m talking about. The blue arrow points to another bruise that looks extra dark cause I shaded it in with pencil - I’m not as worried about that one because it’s right on the rim of the air cell membrane, and it appeared earlier, when the duckling was trying to internally pip.
I’m worried that my duck egg is weak or stuck, because it’s gone through a lot of inconsistent conditions throughout (a broody duck sat on it, then a dog stole the eggs out of the nest. This is the only egg I found scattered in the yard that survived the trauma. Then the mama duck abandoned the nest in the final week, and I had to DIY a rough incubator until the real incubator got delivered.) This egg has been left cold several times, but it’s survived it all. So I really have all my hopes on it!
I am certain it internally pipped at least 28 hours ago, because that’s when I started to hear click click sounds and saw rhythmic breathing movements. But I already saw the duckling pushing against the membrane 44 hours ago. When I checked again 32 hours ago, I saw multiple large shadows inside the air cell with quick flickering movements - I’m not sure if that counts as internally pipped or not. It looked like the duckling had body parts in the air cell, but the movement was not rhythmic. These are two photos from that moment.
Please help! The egg is in lockdown ever since I made the safety hole. I want to assist but also don’t want to shrink wrap the duckling by taking it out of the incubator!
There is a small yellowish bruise that appeared today, but it’s in the air cell. I thought bruises only appear when they try to pip in the wrong place?
The red arrow is pointing to the bruise I’m talking about. The blue arrow points to another bruise that looks extra dark cause I shaded it in with pencil - I’m not as worried about that one because it’s right on the rim of the air cell membrane, and it appeared earlier, when the duckling was trying to internally pip.
I’m worried that my duck egg is weak or stuck, because it’s gone through a lot of inconsistent conditions throughout (a broody duck sat on it, then a dog stole the eggs out of the nest. This is the only egg I found scattered in the yard that survived the trauma. Then the mama duck abandoned the nest in the final week, and I had to DIY a rough incubator until the real incubator got delivered.) This egg has been left cold several times, but it’s survived it all. So I really have all my hopes on it!
I am certain it internally pipped at least 28 hours ago, because that’s when I started to hear click click sounds and saw rhythmic breathing movements. But I already saw the duckling pushing against the membrane 44 hours ago. When I checked again 32 hours ago, I saw multiple large shadows inside the air cell with quick flickering movements - I’m not sure if that counts as internally pipped or not. It looked like the duckling had body parts in the air cell, but the movement was not rhythmic. These are two photos from that moment.
Please help! The egg is in lockdown ever since I made the safety hole. I want to assist but also don’t want to shrink wrap the duckling by taking it out of the incubator!
