How long can they survive after an internal pip but before an external

[taraann81]

Just curious. I have my first eggs in the bator right now. They internally pipped last night and have started to externally pip now. They have bent out the shell but not broken through the membrane, and in one area where the shell fragment has broken away I can see the intact membrane clearly. It is very white and tough looking(normal I would suspect).
They are duck eggs.

 

[sonew123]

I'm in the same boat--my pipped egg has a piece missing and I see membrane-I do see something moving-but its been only a little bit--how long is too long to wait?

 

[taraann81]

Yes I am sooo curious. I think I can even see the bit of membrane moving in and out when the little duck breaths. I've searched here but I can't seem to find a"safe" time frame.

 

[sonew123]

There are posts on it because I read them a little while ago last week. My problem is, when I get nervous, I forget things out of panic mode..I'm going to look around and if I find something I will post it back on your thread ok?

 

[taraann81]

Yes please let me know if you find it. I read one post where the poster said she poked Holes in the membrane 12hrs after they had internally pipped so that they would not suffocate. My gut feeling makes me feel that I should wait longer. I do not want to help if I don't have too so I will wait. On the other hand I don't want these ducklings to die because of my lack of action.

 

[chiknhut]

I had 3 out of 5 ducks to begin pipping a few days ago. The first one hatched without any problems. The second cracked the shell a little that evening. The next morning it had not made any progress so I thought I would help it and chip some shell so it could breathe. It had already died. The third one had a little spot like it had wanted to try to hatch so I pulled a little shell off at the small hole and it was still breathing. I removed enough just for it to breathe. That afternoon when I got home it still hadn't made anymore progress so I chipped some more shell just so it could free its head. After that it tried to push itself out of the shell but it was stuck so I had to slowly remove the shell. It was 5 days past hatch date and would have died if I didn't help it. Don't know if what I did was right or not but I felt like I had to do something.