How to tell if duckling shrink wrapped?

[Songsparrow]

Hello,

I’ve been incubating welsh harlequin duck eggs and 6 hatched last night/this morning. I got home from work today to find one duckling that had zipped pretty much all the way but was dead in the shell, never made it out. One egg is pipped, and the egg of concern had a hole- slightly more than a pip, it was opened a little and piece of shell is off, exposing the membrane. Almost looks like it started trying to zip but stopped. It’s moving around and peeping.

After reading a bit, I peeled off a small piece of the membrane and shell- the membrane feels tough. The duckling’s beak is poking through the membrane.

The duckling appears to try to push itself out and peeping a lot, but I am also seeing yawning and chewing which I know can be a sign that it’s still absorbing the yolk. I didn’t see any veins in the membrane, however. Incubator humidity is almost 80%. Not sure when the duckling first pipped.

Could it potentially be shrink wrapped? I’m wondering if that’s what happened to the one who died in-shell, and want to prevent the same fate for this one.

I haven’t been able to find any definitive info on how to tell if a duckling is shrink wrapped. Any insight helps! Thanks!

 

[Stravager]

Have you read this article?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/

 

[Songsparrow]

Have you read this article?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/

Thank you, that was helpful. I’m thinking I’ll wait and see what happens. Just hoping it will be able to maneuver to hatch on its own, I’m not sure why the other one didn’t make it out even after zipping almost fully.

 

[Songsparrow]

Thank you, that was helpful. I’m thinking I’ll wait and see what happens. Just hoping it will be able to maneuver to hatch on its own, I’m not sure why the other one didn’t make it out even after zipping almost fully.

Have you read this article?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/

Just checked on it again. When I tap on the incubator and whistle, it responds vigorously with peeps and movement. The inner membrane appears to be against the duckling, separated from the interior of the shell. Wondering if I should remove the egg cap and moisten the inner membrane and let the duckling do the rest, or leave it be overnight and check again in the morning.

 

[Songsparrow]

Update: I took off the cap of the shell and put Vaseline on the membrane (taking care to avoid the beak) to keep it moist. Woke up this morning to a happy duckling!

 

[Stravager]

Update: I took off the cap of the shell and put Vaseline on the membrane (taking care to avoid the beak) to keep it moist. Woke up this morning to a happy duckling!

I'm so happy to hear that!