I need help with this hatch: over 48 hours since pip. **Pic added.*

[QuackerJackFarms]

Quote:
Good luck. Keep us posted. I'm in the same boat...so grab an oar!

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

****Now it's day 28 and I still have the same scenario 1 pip and 1 peeping/no pip.

It's been 48 hours. The pip that egg #1 made is no bigger. I can't see it's beak. I can hear it and see it moving and it seems healthy. At what point do I interfere?

With egg #2: No pip, and it's no longer peeping at me. I can hear it pecking but it's a faint tap now.. not aggressive like it was yesterday and the day before. How long can it live on just the air sac?
Last edited by QuackerJackFarms (Today 6:48 pm)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
I wish i could help but I haven't ever used a bator, I think I would PM duckyfromz because at this point I would be concerned about both. Please let us know what you find out.

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

Quote:
I wish i could help but I haven't ever used a bator, I think I would PM duckyfromz because at this point I would be concerned about both. Please let us know what you find out.

Thanks Lydia for confirming my worry.

DuckyfromOz is asleep down under right now. LOL!! It must be like 3am or something there. She'll be on here in awhile I'm sure. I'm hoping some peeps come along and either make me feel better or confirm that I should be worrying.
I've never hatched duck eggs, but have assisted a ton a chickens. So I'm confident I could help the pipped one. The other, not so sure...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
I wish i could help but I haven't ever used a bator, I think I would PM duckyfromz because at this point I would be concerned about both. Please let us know what you find out.

Thanks Lydia for confirming my worry.

DuckyfromOz is asleep down under right now. LOL!! It must be like 3am or something there. She'll be on here in awhile I'm sure. I'm hoping some peeps come along and either make me feel better or confirm that I should be worrying.
I've never hatched duck eggs, but have assisted a ton a chickens. So I'm confident I could help the pipped one. The other, not so sure...

I guess she is asleep, forgot about that, I hope someone will be here shortly to give you advise, Just seems they should be making more progress by now. I hope I didn't make it harder on you by giving you my opinon. Sorry if I've made you worry more now.

I lost a duckling this past summer because the membrane dried out, I wish i had of helped it, it was so sad.

 

[GrannyCarol]

I haven't had chickens, but I am also very attached to my ducks in their eggs and out. There just isn't anything you can directly do until after they pip as far as I know. I'm pretty sure messing with the egg before it pips will pretty well kill it. It sucks that we have to just wait! The one pipped for two days makes me wonder what your humidity in the incubator is though? Too high or too low can be really bad for hatching. I'd probably start to help the one that is pipped. Check to be sure the membrane hasn't completely dried onto the duckling and tear just a little bit of it to open it a bit more. If it is really dry and leathery, tear about 1/4" (I use little hemostats or hair pullers from my dog grooming shop) and put the egg back in with a warm damp paper towel over it. Sometimes I give them a tiny spritz of warm water (but you have to consider that you don't drown them either!) on the membrane to soften it. Then I put them back in and watch to see if they are progressing.

If just the tip of the bill is out and it has stayed out, it is likely stuck and needs a bit more hole to pull it back in and get back to work. I lost one that way waiting too long, thinking it could breathe so it would be ok. It never could get its fat bill back in to continue hatching. Next time I'll give one like that for about 12 hours, then help it a bit.

Good luck!

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

I pulled back a little membrane on the egg that has pipped. It is dry and leathery, but didn't stick to feathers. I can't see it's bill though, but it is vigorously pecking and peeping at me.

Egg #2 has NOT pipped, it looks weird inside. I can see kind of like sprawled feathers. I hear small faint pecking, once every minute or so. Nothing like it was before. My "inner duck" tells me it's running out of air.

My humidity is between 60 and 65.

The other 6 eggs I've given up on. None of them are even in the air cell and it looks like.. well, it looks like the slid down the egg. There is a discoloration. The image I get is like in those old cartoons or cheesy kid movies where someone gets thrown against a wall and then slides down it.

I don't know what to do about #2. If I make it a little hole for air, it might die. If I do nothing.. it will die. Lose lose


BTW: These are mallards.

ETA: Thanks for the posts you guys.

 

[GrannyCarol]

Well, I'd be patient, give it more time. You never know!

If something went wrong during incubation (too hot, too cold, too humid, not humid enough), the ducklings will be weak on hatch. Often if the weak ducklings do hatch, they do poorly (be prepared) and, if you do help one, whatever made it so weak it had trouble hatching will cause it to die or not to thrive. On the other hand, if they run late, often that is too cool and that's not so hard on them. If you have movement in the egg, leave it in the incubator. I've had some really strange things happen and eggs hatch way later than I thought they were supposed to (days later) and do fine. It's a mystery to me!

Your first duckling will probably be ok. Better if you can avoid opening the incubator any more than absolutely necessary though, every time you open it, you stress the remaining eggs. I'm sure that's one reason many don't help until the rest of the hatch is over.

 

[GrannyCarol]

Oh, you might enjoy looking through this site... not sure how far they have finished their pictures regarding candling, but they are very good and its a very informative site:

http://www.minkhollow.ca/mhf/doku.php?id=farm:candling:main

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

Quote:
Thanks Lydia for confirming my worry.

DuckyfromOz is asleep down under right now. LOL!! It must be like 3am or something there. She'll be on here in awhile I'm sure. I'm hoping some peeps come along and either make me feel better or confirm that I should be worrying.
I've never hatched duck eggs, but have assisted a ton a chickens. So I'm confident I could help the pipped one. The other, not so sure...

I guess she is asleep, forgot about that, I hope someone will be here shortly to give you advise, Just seems they should be making more progress by now. I hope I didn't make it harder on you by giving you my opinon. Sorry if I've made you worry more now.

I lost a duckling this past summer because the membrane dried out, I wish i had of helped it, it was so sad.

Oh no Miss Lydia. You didn't make me worry more. I don't think that's possible! And what happened to you is what I fear.