lone duck egg hatching NOW..advice needed please

[mandymoo]

hi, i had 6 indian runner duck eggs initially (shipped ones) and all of them, apart from one, had scrambled airsacs

anyway, i wasn't holding out much hope for the little fella, but today was day 29 so i decided to candle him quick to see if there was anything still alive in there

i saw his little beak had pushed through into the airsac, so i made a hole in the shell, like i've read to do, and dampened the membrane. it was paper dry, and really tough. anyway, i've got about half his shell off ( no bleeding coming through membrane) and the membrane is open enough for him to stick his beak out

he's opening and closing his beak, but no sound from him at all....is this normal? i thought he would be cheeping like chicks do?

also, i'm looking inside the bator every 30mins (not opening it tho) and have got the humidity at around 85%

is there anything else i need to do? i really hope someone can help me cos this little baby has fought so hard to get this far,and i really dnt want him to die

 

[jammyjammy2112]

you shouldnt have assisted untill he was struggleing

 

[mandymoo]

he'd internally pipped, and i was worried because all the way though incubation the air sac was about half the size of the egg, ie massive,and i could also see that there was no way his beak would reach the outer shell to pip it

 

[jammyjammy2112]

o rite you should just leave him for about a day and he should just do the rest himself keep an eye on him dou and sometimes they chirp sometimes they dont aslong as he is breathing and moveing keep us updated

 

[mandymoo]

i won't be going to bed tonight lol! i'm worried his membrane will dry out...it looks ok at the moment though, and yes he's moving, and opening and closing his beak...just no sound yet!

i've hatched chicks before, but this is my first duckling, that's why i'm so worried!

 

[jammyjammy2112]

the humidity should be at 65% im sure so you have no worries of it drieing out at 85%

 

[mandymoo]

oh it was just i read to keep it at around 80 / 85 if possible so i keep spraying warm water thru a tube, thru the air vent!

 

[mandymoo]

he's been like this about an hour now

 

[jammyjammy2112]

thats fine could you get a better picture plz a couple of angles

 

[mandymoo]

hope you can see these ok