Urgent Question about Hatching Ducklings

[FirstDucklings]

Hi Everyone,

My brother is trying to raise ducklings for the first time. He has no prior experience raising anything of a similar nature. He created his own incubator and two of the ducklings appear to be in their external piping phase. The two eggs have the star shaped hole in them (it was formed this morning). He heard them making sounds earlier today, but now they are quiet. Should we be concerned? Or is it normal for ducklings to not make sounds the entire time during the piping process?

Thank you so much!

 

[floppysquirrel04]

That sounds normal, they take a long time to hatch and rest a lot. Try tapping on the bator to see if they make noise. Can you see the inner membrane? What color is it? What has been the normal temp and humidity? What number day is it?

 

[FirstDucklings]

That sounds normal, they take a long time to hatch and rest a lot. Try tapping on the bator to see if they make noise. Can you see the inner membrane? What color is it? What has been the normal temp and humidity? What number day is it?

Okay, cool! We were getting concerned. He doesn't have an actual incubator because he rescued the eggs from raccoons. We also don't know the exact day, but it's definitely been longer than 28 days. He has been using a 15 watt bulb to help with the incubation and he just switched it to a 60 watt bulb (for the hatching ones) which he is keeping further away from his incubator box thing. He keeps a bowl of water in his homemade incubator to give them humidity and he occasionally splashes water on the eggs.
He told me that he removed a little bit of the shell from where they had cracked because he was worried. He didn't widen the hole or anything. He said that the first egg to crack its shell (apparently happened mid-to-late this morning) appears to have a yellow inner membrane (this is seen in the picture I have attached). He hasn't heard anything from it even if he picks it up.

The second egg that piped did so around early afternoon today. That one also doesn't make any sounds when he picks it up. The inner membrane is a different color on this one. He also picked a little bit around the hole because he was worried. I guess that isn't something that should be done.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Those membranes are drying out. They need a little more humidity

 

[FirstDucklings]

Do you think the eggs are okay even if the ducklings aren't responding?

 

[Isaac 0]

Your humidity definitely needs to be raised. If they were mine I would apply a tad bit of coconut oil to the outside of the membrane to keep them lubricated. Do you see any veins, are they yawning, whats your humidity at and temp?

 

[floppysquirrel04]

You need to spray down the egg with warm water. With your setup I’m surprised even two made it this far, congrats ! Tell your brother not to open the bator anymore unless it’s to spray the eggs once. If you can get a humidity gauge in there, that would be best. Normally this would be a little high, but try to get it around 50% if they are drying out like that.