VERY SADDLED duck egg! Need help please! 😩

[AmyA248]

Good morning to all!

Could someone please look at my Muscovy egg? It’s so saddled and I feel like my poor baby is being squeezed!
He hasn’t pipped even though it was pipping day 2 days ago.
He’s the only one who made it and we want him so desperately!
Can someone please help me?!
Kindly,
Amy

 

[MGG]

Good morning to all!

Could someone please look at my Muscovy egg? It’s so saddled and I feel like my poor baby is being squeezed!
He hasn’t pipped even though it was pipping day 2 days ago.
He’s the only one who made it and we want him so desperately!
Can someone please help me?!
Kindly,
Amy

Is he still definitely alive? If he's two days late your temperature was probably off. Sometimes that can be enough to make them die late.
Otherwise, it's normal for the air cell to saddle before they hatch.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

At this far along I don’t suggest candling the egg upright like that
It’s okay to candle to check fir internal pip but do it in place where it lays in the bator
We don’t want to move the egg from position as this can confuse the hatching baby
I would lay the egg where the air cell goes up the egg ( that side facing up
When you say he was piping a few days ago was he in the sir cell or shadowing along side of it ?
They do this for a few days before they actually internal pip
Often once they get in the air cell you see the beak and can see the shadowing along the bottom part of the air cell of up and down movement in a pattern. That’s baby breathing air
If they are not yet breathing it’s just random flickering
Edited to add
Many babies with saddle shapes hatch just fine
It’s not as common to see them when the eggs are from our own birds but it can happen
Even my broody duck who’s eggs never left her nest somehow ended up with saddle air cells

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Hi,

Yes, I just candled him (even though I shouldn’t) but I had to check on him. He’s definitely alive and trying very hard.

He’s 2 days late to pip, according to what I’ve read. I have never hatched Muscovy ducks before, we purchased them from a breeder as babies.
This is my girl’s first clutch and she never went broody. She has been laying since January 23rd!! I have an incubator full of staggered ages of eggs! Ugh!

I have a very good incubater that keeps the humidity well. But I’m a novice, I have only incubated an abandoned nest of Wood duck eggs in June. Mom was killed by a hawk or fox.
All the ducklings hatched nicely but one had an unabsorbed yolk sac and I had to make him a bed and treat him like an infant. Poor baby couldn’t even stand or lift his head. By the grace of God and plenty of TLC he made it!

Anyway, I’m so worried about this egg. The humidity is on 70 in lockdown at 99 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thank you so much for your help!!
Kindly,
Amy

Please don’t stress about by the book dates
There can be cool and hot spots in Bators that cause early or late hatches
Also bator readings can be off and again cause early to late hatches
I don’t go by the book with my hatches I go by my eggs
To me he sounds like he is close to internal and mom needs to relax
Easier said then done )
Honestly just be patient they go at their pace not at ours
I have had mine hatch day 24 to day 30
The day 30 was the one under mom who should be closest to the book
But was 2 days late. She is over a year old now

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Omg! Thank you for such fantastic advice!!!
I’m going to do exactly as you said immediately and do the tests.

Do you think I should adjust the humidity to 65% instead of 70%?
Is the temperature of 99.5 degrees correct as well during lockdown?

I feel terribly guilty for candling him wrong. I didn’t know I should not have held it upright.
It’s difficult to candle in the lockdown incubator, it’s quite small, but I’m going to make sure I figure it out.
I know that I’m not supposed to open the incubator or touch the egg while in lockdown, but I HAVE to make sure he’s ok, I just can’t help it and if anything were to go wrong I’d be able to help right away.

I candled this morning and he’s trying so hard to pip. There is lots of flickering and pushing constantly, but the saddled air sac is so huge I feel like he’s completely squashed in there!
Obviously I’m a novice if you couldn’t tell. Lol! And I truly appreciate all the love and support from this incredible group!
You people are simply the BEST, and none of my abandoned Wood ducks from last June would have made it if it wasn’t for this fantastic group!
Their mother was killed and the 5 eggs appeared to be approximately 2 weeks old.
I had no idea what to do, but I couldn’t leave the eggs in my yard to die, I had to at least try to save them and they all happily hatched!

Blessings and a huge thank you!
Amy

This is my awful lockdown incubator that I must check CONSTANTLY! It is quite literally crap and needs constant supervision…

The temp of 99.5 is correct for forced air
That’s if your thermometer is accurate
The little ones do work hard and that’s why it takes so long. They to take breaks and rest
Like I said it’s perfectly fine to candle once in lockdown just not moving the egg
If you can’t get it in there then lift the egg up still in its position and candle not moving the egg around
My bator gives plenty of room to candle while in but if I have a bunch of eggs sometimes I need to lift an egg up to look so I don’t hit other eggs

 

[HollowOfWisps]

That looks pretty normal for a duckling about to pip.
How often are you candling your eggs?
Are you rotating your eggs around in the incubator to account for cool spots?
Do you have a separate thermometer inside your incubator?

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Please don’t stress about by the book dates
There can be cool and hot spots in Bators that cause early or late hatches
Also bator readings can be off and again cause early to late hatches
I don’t go by the book with my hatches I go by my eggs
To me he sounds like he is close to internal and mom needs to relax
Easier said then done )
Honestly just be patient they go at their pace not at ours
I have had mine hatch day 24 to day 30
The day 30 was the one under mom who should be closest to the book
But was 2 days late. She is over a year old now

This is how I candle mine once lockdown has started
This egg was a bit different as I was always more careful as it was twins
I just turn my candler sideways instead of moving my egg

 

[AmyA248]

At this far along I don’t suggest candling the egg upright like that
It’s okay to candle to check fir internal pip but do it in place where it lays in the bator
We don’t want to move the egg from position as this can confuse the hatching baby
I would lay the egg where the air cell goes up the egg ( that side facing up
When you say he was piping a few days ago was he in the sir cell or shadowing along side of it ?
They do this for a few days before they actually internal pip
Often once they get in the air cell you see the beak and can see the shadowing along the bottom part of the air cell of up and down movement in a pattern. That’s baby breathing air
If they are not yet breathing it’s just random flickering
Edited to add
Many babies with saddle shapes hatch just fine
It’s not as common to see them when the eggs are from our own birds but it can happen
Even my broody duck who’s eggs never left her nest somehow ended up with saddle air cells

Thank you so very much for your kindness and help.
My apologies, he did not internally pip yet. There is lots of flickering and shadowing. I know when they externally pip they start to breathe in the air sac, but because it’s saddled it’s very hard to tell what’s happening. I have always seen straight air sacs and seeing this actually scared me!
I know I shouldn’t be candling, but I’m so terribly worried about my little baby.

I have the humidity at 70 percent and the temperature at 99.5 as told to me is correct by a breeder.
I guess I really messed up by holding the egg wrong and it will be my fault if I lose my little one. I just feel like I need to make sure he’s ok.
All the pushing, shadowing and flickering is happening at the very bottom at the longest point, so he’s not breach then, correct???
I’m worried about that as well!

I know it seems like I’m overreacting, but this is the ONLY egg that has made it this far. I’ve been losing them between 13-17 days. And it’s so sad.
We are all very invested and want so much to add to our little Duck family.
I even get up 4 times during the night to check on the egg and make sure everything is correct.
It’s actually next to our bed and my poor husband gets woken each time I get up.
Unfortunately this incubator is awful and needs constant maintenance to keep everything perfect. I got it from Amazon and it’s absolutely terrible. It doesn’t even have a digital humidity sensor.

Do I have the humidity and temperature correct for lockdown?

In my other incubator I have it set at 99 degrees and 48% humidity. Again as told to me from the breeder.
I’m including a photo of both incubators.

Blessings and happy Sunday.

Kindly,
Amy

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Thank you so very much for your kindness and help.
My apologies, he did not internally pip yet. There is lots of flickering and shadowing. I know when they externally pip they start to breathe in the air sac, but because it’s saddled it’s very hard to tell what’s happening. I have always seen straight air sacs and seeing this actually scared me!
I know I shouldn’t be candling, but I’m so terribly worried about my little baby.

I have the humidity at 70 percent and the temperature at 99.5 as told to me is correct by a breeder.
I guess I really messed up by holding the egg wrong and it will be my fault if I lose my little one. I just feel like I need to make sure he’s ok.
All the pushing, shadowing and flickering is happening at the very bottom at the longest point, so he’s not breach then, correct???
I’m worried about that as well!

I know it seems like I’m overreacting, but this is the ONLY egg that has made it this far. I’ve been losing them between 13-17 days. And it’s so sad.
We are all very invested and want so much to add to our little Duck family.
I even get up 4 times during the night to check on the egg and make sure everything is correct.
It’s actually next to our bed and my poor husband gets woken each time I get up.
Unfortunately this incubator is awful and needs constant maintenance to keep everything perfect. I got it from Amazon and it’s absolutely terrible. It doesn’t even have a digital humidity sensor.

Do I have the humidity and temperature correct for lockdown?

In my other incubator I have it set at 99 degrees and 48% humidity. Again as told to me from the breeder.
I’m including a photo of both incubators.

Blessings and happy Sunday.

Kindly,
Amy

Did you calibrate the gage ? If not it can be way off. I’m just calibrating mine like that and all 4 are way off and different From one another
This could be why he is a little late
The readings maybe off
As for him in the correct position I think he is so go ahead and candle a few tubes a day but do as I showed abc don’t move the actual egg
You will be able to tell without picking up the egg
I candle mine from day 1 to internal pip
Some are against it but I get 100 % hatch rates so I’m not worried about candling
Yoy won’t have harmed the baby by standing it up but you could confuse it and he could try to turn and end up at the wrong end is all
I get you are so worried but you need to try to relax before you drive yourself crazy
I run my humidity at 65 for hatching
But I’m not sure if yours is accurate and it takes 24 hours to properly calibrate them
There are lots of video on YouTube on how to calibrate
For the heat they only take 30 seconds to calibrate
I buy the thermometers you would stick into meat and add them in to the bator and go by them to adjust my heat setting on the bator reader
I place them so they are level with the top of the egg
Fill a cup with crushed ice then add cold water the stir so the ice doesn’t clump up
Place the thermometer in the cup not touching any sides or bottom
Wait 30 seconds and it should read 32f or 0c if its off you can adjust the nut while it’s in the water to get it to the correct place
I then do a second test to be sure

 

[AmyA248]

Did you calibrate the gage ? If not it can be way off. I’m just calibrating mine like that and all 4 are way off and different From one another
This could be why he is a little late
The readings maybe off
As for him in the correct position I think he is so go ahead and candle a few tubes a day but do as I showed abc don’t move the actual egg
You will be able to tell without picking up the egg
I candle mine from day 1 to internal pip
Some are against it but I get 100 % hatch rates so I’m not worried about candling
Yoy won’t have harmed the baby by standing it up but you could confuse it and he could try to turn and end up at the wrong end is all
I get you are so worried but you need to try to relax before you drive yourself crazy
I run my humidity at 65 for hatching
But I’m not sure if yours is accurate and it takes 24 hours to properly calibrate them
There are lots of video on YouTube on how to calibrate
For the heat they only take 30 seconds to calibrate
I buy the thermometers you would stick into meat and add them in to the bator and go by them to adjust my heat setting on the bator reader
I place them so they are level with the top of the egg
Fill a cup with crushed ice then add cold water the stir so the ice doesn’t clump up
Place the thermometer in the cup not touching any sides or bottom
Wait 30 seconds and it should read 32f or 0c if its off you can adjust the nut while it’s in the water to get it to the correct place
I then do a second test to be sure

Omg! Thank you for such fantastic advice!!!
I’m going to do exactly as you said immediately and do the tests.

Do you think I should adjust the humidity to 65% instead of 70%?
Is the temperature of 99.5 degrees correct as well during lockdown?

I feel terribly guilty for candling him wrong. I didn’t know I should not have held it upright.
It’s difficult to candle in the lockdown incubator, it’s quite small, but I’m going to make sure I figure it out.
I know that I’m not supposed to open the incubator or touch the egg while in lockdown, but I HAVE to make sure he’s ok, I just can’t help it and if anything were to go wrong I’d be able to help right away.

I candled this morning and he’s trying so hard to pip. There is lots of flickering and pushing constantly, but the saddled air sac is so huge I feel like he’s completely squashed in there!
Obviously I’m a novice if you couldn’t tell. Lol! And I truly appreciate all the love and support from this incredible group!
You people are simply the BEST, and none of my abandoned Wood ducks from last June would have made it if it wasn’t for this fantastic group!
Their mother was killed and the 5 eggs appeared to be approximately 2 weeks old.
I had no idea what to do, but I couldn’t leave the eggs in my yard to die, I had to at least try to save them and they all happily hatched!

Blessings and a huge thank you!
Amy

This is my awful lockdown incubator that I must check CONSTANTLY! It is quite literally crap and needs constant supervision…