So, my five eggies have made it to day 28 as of today. None of them are making noises, but one egg has a very small hole. I read that they could get tired and hurt if the shell is too thick due to lots of calcium in the water, so I peeled a VERY SMALL amount of shell off to help it out. Another one has movement it I put a light next to it. It's my first hatch so I'm very worried! What should I do if they aren't making any noise? And what does it mean to shrink-wrap with hatching eggs?
Thanks in advance for anything that could help!
My best advice to you is to keep the incubator closed and keep the humidity up. If one has just started to pip externally (break a small hole in the shell) you could be another day or two until they hatch. It will be hard to wait, but it is better to wait than to intervene too early. If they've been moving and developing properly, there isn't much to do but wait.
What kind of eggs are these?
What temp/humidity have you been running the incubator at? What type of incubator?
If these are standard domestic duck eggs, not muscovy duck eggs, and they aren't hatching yet, it is possible that your incubator was just a little bit too cold, which slows development a little.
Don't worry about shrink-wrap just yet. If your humidity was too low and the membranes dried out, it can be difficult for the duckling to hatch, when the duckling has "zipped" the shell, but can't hatch because the membranes are dry, tough and hard, then you have a shrink wrap situation and you'll need to help break open the membranes. Again though, don't worry about that yet.
I'd say, let them be for a while, keep and eye on them and hopefully you'll see the others pip their shells soon.
