Internal pip 2 days ago. No external yet. Intervene?

[Ravynscroft]

This is the second baby to hatch. I'll take more photos when all three are out.

Congrats!!!

Sorry for the losses though... hatching in bators is a learning experience, and not always smooth learning...

 

[tumnus]

Congrats!!!

Sorry for the losses though... hatching in bators is a learning experience, and not always smooth learning...

Third baby is almost out!

I really enjoy incubating for sure. But there's something soooo nice about the final egg hatching and then dismantling/cleaning the incubator and sticking it back into storage for a while.

 

[casportpony]

This is the second baby to hatch. I'll take more photos when all three are out.

Cute!

 

[Ravynscroft]

Where's #3???

 

[DuckGal2]

Hi, I have been hatching duck eggs since 2006. When I incubate, if they don't externally pip within approximately 12 hours of internally pipping I candle the egg to make sure I get the right spot and CAREFULLY make a tiny hole in the shell using a sharp pin. I have had a much higher hatch rate doing this. So far all have eventually externally pipped after I did this. I read somewhere a few years ago that this helps with hatching goose eggs and decided to try it with duck eggs and it worked. My research claimed the extra oxygen from making a hole in the shell helps them get the energy to pip and hatch on their own after that and it makes sense to me.
Wether it is necessary or not does not matter -- what matters is how high you want your hatch rate to be. If you don't want to lose any babies then you intervene if you think you should. In the past I didn't intervene as much and I lost more babies in the shell. I don't think it was a coincidence.

 

[lazy gardener]

Thus my continued statement that successful incubation is an art and a science.

 

[WVduckchick]

And a little luck.