Unhatched egg

[casportpony]

Can you candled it and outline the air cell with a permanent marker of pencil the take another picture of the spot?

 

[HuffleClaw]

It looks dead... Are you sure it’s the duckling moving and not fluids in the egg?

 

[Eag133]

I have hatched 1 duck egg so I am no expert. But the one I hatched is 6 weeks old and had the dark spot and yellow in the shell. He/she took 30-31 days to hatch.

Have you candled.. has it pipped?

 

[WVduckchick]

A relation to where the air cell is from the dark spot would help a lot. Usually bruises like that are the duckling trying to pip, and just get thru the membrane and let a little of the moisture inside seep between the membranes. If it’s near the air cell, it stands a better chance of making it without assistance.

 

[Aprylb]

A relation to where the air cell is from the dark spot would help a lot. Usually bruises like that are the duckling trying to pip, and just get thru the membrane and let a little of the moisture inside seep between the membranes. If it’s near the air cell, it stands a better chance of making it without assistance.

I'm at work so I can't mark it and take a pic right now but I candled it this morning and I can say the spot is not far from the air sac. It did not appear the duckling had internally pipped.

 

[DuckyDonna]

A relation to where the air cell is from the dark spot would help a lot. Usually bruises like that are the duckling trying to pip, and just get thru the membrane and let a little of the moisture inside seep between the membranes. If it’s near the air cell, it stands a better chance of making it without assistance.

Glad you came on Natalie. I was about to say that sounds like the situation I recently had on my last hatch. I did a major assist and the little duck lived even though it was really malpositioned.

Should she break into the air cell end?

 

[PirateGirl]

If there is movement it is still alive. That does not mean it is ready to hatch and it does not mean it needs assistance. If you candle the egg by shining a light in the fat end (air cell) you will be able to see if the duckling has internally pipped. If you do a youtube search for duckling internal pip you will find some good videos that show you what to look for. An internal pip is pretty obvious. If it has pipped internally you can make a small safety hole in the air cell if you want to help. It can be 24 hours from internal pip to external pip. If there is not an internal pip, I would not do anything yet.

 

[Miss Lydia]

What about the yellow fluid any idea on what that maybe?

 

[casportpony]

What about the yellow fluid any idea on what that maybe?

Sometimes they can have some excess fluid, which is amniotic fluid or allantoic fluid I think.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Okay good hopefully that’s what is there then.