Preparing to set call and pekin duck eggs! Hatch day should be March 4, 2021 if all goes well!

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

Well... I sold some and I'm selling the rest. But they're doing great so far! I'll try posting pics tomorrow.

Nice! Glad they’re doing great! Bet they went to great homes!

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

At Day 25, I have 6 eggs left. One of them hasn't internally pipped yet but I can see the duckling moving around in the egg. I didn't make a safety hole for that one yet. The other 5 have internally pipped and one has externally pipped. I made a tiny safety hole in each of the eggs. Now to wait and keep an eye on them. It's almost 1:30am so I'm going to try to get some sleep. Any suggestions on what to do with the 6th egg? Just keep an eye on it to internally pip and then proceed with the safety hole?

Sounds promising. Good job with the safety holes! Sorry I didn’t see this till now. For the sixth egg about the only thing you can do is wait for it to internally pip then add a safety hole. If you do the safety hole before internal pip it will shrink wrap them.
I suggest looking that one over really well, sometimes when I had ones that didn’t internally pip they were malpositioned and bruised the shell elsewhere.
Good luck!!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Woke up to 3 external pippers! Going to check the last one that hasn't pipped internally over really well for bruising @FunnyfarmMidwest thank you for the information about that. I keep hearing an occasional tap so someone is working.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I promise that I have read the assisting article by pyxis numerous times, the most recent was right before I started the safety holes last night (practiced on my ducks eggs first) and I know it says ducklings take a long time. How long after safety hole OR external pip did you open the air cell a bit further (not fully) to have a view inside? I don't want to open early and shrink wrap them but with them being notoriously difficult to hatch, I get so nervous. I feel like we're on track since today is Day 26 by my counting (not including the first day set) and the countdown on the incubator says Day 1. Of course little slow poke (haha literally ~ it's not poking aka pipping internally or externally~) seems to be behind

 

[WVduckchick]

I promise that I have read the assisting article by pyxis numerous times, the most recent was right before I started the safety holes last night (practiced on my ducks eggs first) and I know it says ducklings take a long time. How long after safety hole OR external pip did you open the air cell a bit further (not fully) to have a view inside? I don't want to open early and shrink wrap them but with them being notoriously difficult to hatch, I get so nervous. I feel like we're on track since today is Day 26 by my counting (not including the first day set) and the countdown on the incubator says Day 1. Of course little slow poke (haha literally ~ it's not poking aka pipping internally or externally~) seems to be behind

It’s really tough to put a time on steps to assisting. Generally after a safe hole (which for me would be 18-24 hours after internal pip), often times they will then make an external pip of their own. If another 18-24 hours goes by and they don’t attempt to pip on their own, I’ll usually expand the safety hole and see what’s going on. Once you expose more membrane, the faster the membrane will dry out, so you have to start moistening it at that point. Position/direction of the bill, prominence or not of big veins kinda dictate how far to proceed at that point. (I’m talking how much shell to actually remove) But once you moisten that membrane, the veins will be extremely visible. If there are still lots of big red ones, it’s going to be a while. If they are small and more pink-ish, they are receding, so progress will be faster.

 

[WVduckchick]

Check this out.

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

Woke up to 3 external pippers! Going to check the last one that hasn't pipped internally over really well for bruising @FunnyfarmMidwest thank you for the information about that. I keep hearing an occasional tap so someone is working.

Yay!

Of course! Hope things go well!

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

Check this out.

What a great video! Awesome!

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

It’s really tough to put a time on steps to assisting. Generally after a safe hole (which for me would be 18-24 hours after internal pip), often times they will then make an external pip of their own. If another 18-24 hours goes by and they don’t attempt to pip on their own, I’ll usually expand the safety hole and see what’s going on. Once you expose more membrane, the faster the membrane will dry out, so you have to start moistening it at that point. Position/direction of the bill, prominence or not of big veins kinda dictate how far to proceed at that point. (I’m talking how much shell to actually remove) But once you moisten that membrane, the veins will be extremely visible. If there are still lots of big red ones, it’s going to be a while. If they are small and more pink-ish, they are receding, so progress will be faster.

This is great advice. I agree.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I noticed this with mine. All the ones in the incubator do not attempt to externally pip for me or unzip. I’ve had to do full assists on all of those. The ones under my broodies do good though.

This time is different though. It was approaching 24 hrs since internal pip for Squeegee’s eggs so I gave them safety holes. They have not made their own external pip. How should I go about assisting if they don’t progress and it’s necessary? I’ve never done any under my broodies.

If you do anything more than just extend the safety hole to peek inside to see what's going on.. I would go ahead and do like birdsbeestrees said and switch out the eggs and finish them in the incubator.

I promise that I have read the assisting article by pyxis numerous times, the most recent was right before I started the safety holes last night (practiced on my ducks eggs first) and I know it says ducklings take a long time. How long after safety hole OR external pip did you open the air cell a bit further (not fully) to have a view inside? I don't want to open early and shrink wrap them but with them being notoriously difficult to hatch, I get so nervous. I feel like we're on track since today is Day 26 by my counting (not including the first day set) and the countdown on the incubator says Day 1. Of course little slow poke (haha literally ~ it's not poking aka pipping internally or externally~) seems to be behind

What WV said.