Pip at wrong end

[Dances with Ducks]

Day 26 - I've got three pips out of 10 duck eggs! This is my first time hatching.
One of the eggs has a pip 2/3 down towards the small end. Shouldn't the pip be at the part of the egg where the air cell is? What's going to happen to this baby??

 

[tia]

I know that sometimes they do pip at the wrong end. I would post this under the hatching an incubation title in the index. You will probably get some pretty good information there. I have hatched eggs before, but never had one pip at the wrong end. You might do a search on there too. I remember reading something about it before, but don't recall what it was.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Generally the ducklings will pip into the air cell at the larger end of the egg.
I had a whole hatch once pip backwards. Not a single one made it out alive leading me to believe that the incubator temp or humidity had problems. In a hatch where only a single egg pips back to front- it may just be a bigger or smaller egg - or that the duckling hasnt turned the correct way in the last few days of incubation. I usually find that the ones backwards need a little help as they do not have the extra room that it achieved by those who break into the aircell. I have also noted to often these ducklings take a little longer to absorb the yolk. I thought this too may be because of the duckling not having the extra room in side the egg.

I hope your little one makes it- but just be very cautious in the event that you try to help it hatch in any way.

 

[muddyhorse]

I had a chick do this earlier this week it took it longer to hatch but it is fine now. has it piped through the membrane ? if not you may need to mist the egg to keep it from drying out. keep us updated

 

[Dances with Ducks]

That pip now has a small opening. I have more external pips in my other eggs, but none has broken open exept this one. I hope that is a good sign for this duckling!

 

[Dances with Ducks]

I'm relieved to hear that they do sometimes survive coming out the wrong end. I had imagined it would be suffocating because I thought they needed to get to the air cell to take their first breath.

 

[muddyhorse]

if they can pip all the way through the membrane then they can get "outside" air. are the eggs in cartons or a turner or loose. I hatch in the carton, I think it is easier on the chick they don't have to reposition themselves I f the egg rolls.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

That's encouraging!!

I had them on ice cube trays until lockdown so I could position them with the air cell ends slightly up. When I put the on the mesh floor of the hovabator and closed it several of them rolled! So I opened it up and set them all on a wash cloth so they wouldn't roll. That does make me worry if they would get good enough ventilation though. The humidity is about 73 - 75%. I haven't misted through incubation, I had decided against that because we are in a arid climate and John Metzer says that makes the shells more porous. So now I am trying to find something to use a a mister to help with the hatch. Maybe they don't need it? How will I know?

 

[Dances with Ducks]

There is a very vigorous duckling in there! I hear him peeping and see a little bit of his bill working at the hole. There is dried yolk around the hole. Seven pips total, all at the right end, but no holes opening up except this one.

 

[megshenhut]

Let us know how your little one is doing. I have been hatching turkeys. Out of 2 hatches I have had 3 pip at the wrong end. The first 2 I left alone and they died in the shell. I don't think they had room to turn in the shell to zip it. When the 3rd egg did it, I figured I'd help. The 1st 2 died, so if this one died too I wasn't out anything. I carefully peeled part of the shell away, leaving the membrane. It had made a little hole in the membrane so I knew it could breathe. Then I wrapped it in a wet papertowel and put the whole thing in the bator and waited. About 12 hours it finally started moving itself around like it would if it were zipping and it hatched. That was last Sunday and it is doing fine with the other 5. I think there is a real danger with turkeys anyway of the baby actually being stuck and not able to move itself around in that small end of the egg. If your little duck appears to be giving up, I wouldn't wait too long to intervene. Anyway, just my 2 cents worth.