Newbie - Need help with partial hatchling

[stormysunflower]

.External Pips (And Pips in general) Are meant to be at the round end which is normally where the air sack is. Where as your little fellas are piping are piping at the pointy end.

Are you going to consider helping them? I understand most people disagree to do so, But because of where the position they are in and the situation of the membrane, personally I would consider helping them. I have helped ducks and chicks that have been in the same situation as yours and they all survived (They are waddling around outside as I type).

 
Best of luck

-Mustang

@Mustangrooster
Both have their bills poking out, so they are breathing.
I am more than willing to help, I just don't want to help too soon.
I was reading that hatching can take from a few minutes to 36 hours.

 

[mustangrooster]

@Mustangrooster
Both have their bills poking out, so they are breathing.
I am more than willing to help, I just don't want to help too soon.
I was reading that hatching can take from a few minutes to 36 hours.

Righty'O If both have their Bills poking out then they are doing fine. As you mentioned 26 hours have only past so still about 10 more hours left for them to hatch. Keep it up, Your doing great

Keep us updated!

-Mustang

 

[WVduckchick]

I had a duckling that I told myself I was waiting until 48 hours had passed before helping. It also pipped below the air cell, more centered on the egg. I left for work at 44 hours, planning to come home in 4 hours to check. When I got home, it had hatched on its own. He's over a year old now and doing great!

Trust your gut. Wait as long as you can, but if you feel like its in distress, do what you think is right. If you help, just stop if you see active bleeding.

Best of luck! Hopefully we will see ducky pics in the morning.

 

[WVduckchick]

And just to drive you crazy, my female duck hatched her own this time. 10 little adorables hatched yesterday (and probably some the day before, but she wouldn't let me see) but she had them all out this evening.

 

[stormysunflower]

Thank you @Mustangrooster and @WVduckchick your reassurance and advice is calming my nerves. I am responsible for these little lives and I want to make sure I am doing it right I'm so excited, I've been talking to them all day.
Also, thank you for the picture, your little duck family is beautiful.

 

[mustangrooster]

And just to drive you crazy, my female duck hatched her own this time. 10 little adorables hatched yesterday (and probably some the day before, but she wouldn't let me see) but she had them all out this evening.

Go Mama Duck! Congrats on your babys WVduckchick! They're adorable!

 

[stormysunflower]

Update:
There was no change over night, so I've decided to zip the shell, I did not touch the membrane.
Although mildly concerned, one has a significantly large area of brown leathery membrane around the pipping, and the other seems to have poo'd in his shell.
Both are still breathing and sticking their heads out more, without so much shell in the way.
I would like to give them the opportunity to get out of the membrane themselves, so I've wrapped a wet washcloth around the membrane to dampen it leaving the air holes very much exposed.
Any more advice in this stage is appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[stormysunflower]

Also one of my little hatchlings has liquid coming out of his nose, I'm swabbing the area to remove some of the egg liquid out of his face. Is this normal?

 

[WVduckchick]

Too much liquid is not normal. Hopefully the swabbing helps.

Personally, I don't use the damp paper towel wraps, but don't really have any reason not to, so if you feel better with it there, leave it. I just feel like they keep the shell from breathing like it should. By this point, you want them to be absorbing yolk, not retaining any more fluid than necessary, but the membrane needs to stay moist so they don't stick to it. You can moisten the membrane with Vaseline, or bacitracin ointment (just make sure it has NO pain reliever -- "caine" words - lidocaine, etc). I stick with normal Vaseline. It stays moist longer than just wetting it with water.

Also, you can start to peel the membrane beside the hole, as long as you don't see any active veins or bleeding. If one starts to bleed, STOP. When they are moist with Vaseline, the veins are nice and visible.

 

[stormysunflower]

@WVduckchick thank you thank you. I have vaseline, so I can totally do that.
I really do appreciate all your help.