I hear peeping in some of my duck eggs

[firehog]

OK, it is the 4th week mama duck has been sitting. I am new at this what does the term pipping and zippering mean?

Duck has 20 eggs in her nest and she is small so doubt if all are getting the proper heat. I candles all of them today and saw 5 that light shined through completely so discarded them. I also saw movement in some of the eggs and heard peeping noises in others.

So what do I do now? She is not sitting that much on the eggs during the day and this is her first time to be a mother. How many days before they will start hatching? Should I let nature take its course or take the ducklings out to a warm safe place and start providing food and water right away? I know I will need a heat lamp but just don't know what to do here. Reading the posts on incubating eggs, these eggs are not getting anywhere near the coddling asked for by a constant temperature and certain humidity. Any advice would be appreciated Thanks

 

[Ridgerunner]

Ducks have been doing this for thousands of years with no help from humans. Relax a bit, it sounds like things are going great.

Ducks, chickens, turkeys, and others all go through the same general process when they hatch. Hatching is a process that covers a few days, now something instantaneous. The chick, poult, duckling, whatever, moves itself in position to internal pip. That’s why sometimes you see eggs wiggle. “Internal pipping” is when they punch a hole through the membrane into the air cell so they can learn to breathe in air instead of in a liquid environment. About the time the air in the air cell runs out they punch a hole through the shell so they can breathe air from outside. This is what we normally call pipping or external pipping. Zipping is when they cut a line all the way around an egg so they can push it apart and come out into the outside world.

During this they are doing a lot of other things; absorbing the yolk, drying up blood vessels that used to run outside their body, do something with that gunk they have been living in so when they dry they are light and fluffy and the down is not pasted down, and who knows how many other things. Some do a lot of this stuff before external pip and usually zip within a very few hours of external pip. Some wait until external pip to do a lot of this. These can take more than a day to zip. All this is hard work. When they come out into the world they are usually exhausted, but like kids they soon regain their energy after some rest.

When they internal pip many start peeping. They are basically talking to Mama, starting the bonding process. But most important they are telling her that they are on the way. “Don’t leave me yet.” Different eggs will hatch at different times, some possibly quite a bit earlier than others. Since they absorb the yolk before hatch they can go days without eating and drinking so Mama does not have to abandon the ones that have not yet hatched to take them to find food and water. Mama and her babies are talking to each other all the time, before and after they hatch. The ones that have hatched have a special peep to tell Mama they are getting hungry or thirsty. As long as babies are on the way and the early ones are OK, Mama can sit and hatch the late ones. Once they are all hatched, she takes them from the nest to find food and water.

How long before the eggs hatch. That depends. Most duck eggs hatch in 28 days but some normally hatch after 35, depending on breed. Sounds like you have the 4 week kind. But that 28 or 35 is just theory. There are a lot of different things that affect exactly when an egg will hatch; heredity, humidity, how long or even how an egg was stored before incubation started, and just differences in individual eggs. One big difference is average incubation temperature. If the incubation was a little warm they can be early, cool and they can be late. I’ve had eggs under a broody hen hatch two full days early.

I’ve had some hatches where the hatch was over and Mama brought the babies off the nest within 24 hours of the first baby hatching. I’ve had hatches drag on for more than two full days with the hen even waiting four days after the first hatched to bring her babies off the nest. Each hatch is unique. I’ve yet to see a hen leave the nest before all eggs have hatched that are going to hatch but I start all my eggs all at the same time. No staggered hatches.

Most ducks, hens, and such are really good about regulating the temperature. If the outside temperature is hot they may spend a lot of time off the nest during incubation. If it is cool their daily breaks may be pretty short. They have been doing this for thousands of years by instinct and most get it right. Since yours are developing, it sounds like your duck is doing it right.

Why do you know you need a heat lamp? Mama has been providing heat to her babies for thousands of years, long before heat lamps were ever invented. If you wish to take the babies away from Mama and raise them yourself, you certainly can. Some people do that. But if you let Mama raise her babies herself I find the less I interfere the less damage I cause. We are all different and do things out own way. I’m not saying taking the babies away and raising them yourself is wrong, some people do it that way and it works. It’s just not the way I do it.

Good luck!