Weird air cell

[CityChicker]

It sounds like there have been multiple problems with this hatch. Every single pipped egg in malposition is *very* unusual. I don't think we have ever had several malpositioned ducklings in one hatch. Anyway, it is so hard to say what you are describing. So much of what you have said sounds like the ducklings are pipping, but the way you describe the cracks is not normal at all. That really makes me question what you are seeing, but without being there to see it in person, there is no telling. A true pip is a very small area, almost like the shape of a star where you can see the shell has been pushed out from the inside. This happens in the very, very early stages of hatching. If you are seeing cracks that are expanding, but not going through the exterior of the shell, there is no telling what you are really seeing.

I would be inclined to leave them in the hatcher for a few days and see how it goes. Ducklings can regularly take up to 72 hours from pip to hatch. If you want to just check for your own piece of mind, you could make a small hole in one of the eggs (something that we almost never do here, but it can certainly be done, we just don't do it because of overall flock husbandry). Anyway, just be very careful if you see any signs of blood or that the duckling has not absorbed the egg that you stop immediately.

What you are describing is not normal at all though and makes me wonder if they really are even pipped. Once you have hatched eggs before, it is obvious what a pip is. This is all a learning process and we all have successes and failures as we learn. Good luck! I really hope they pull through.

 

[davekrista]

Quote:
When and IF i do decide to do that, would I do it where the crack is? or in the air cell? I wish I had a better camera so I could take a pic of the crack but when I do, the crack doesn't show up

 

[FunnyBunnies12]

Here is what my external pip looked like with my 2 babies from last weekend, no question about it, and once this happened the zipping happened very shortly there after and quick! Look at egg 14 on the left hand side, that is what you should be seeing for external pip....... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/66568_img00596-20101014-2156_2.jpg

 

[davekrista]

Quote:
Thanks Missy, That is what I was picturing what a pip should look like, and mine doesn't at all.. just a normal looking crack, from inside..... Although the way the light is hitting the original egg, I can see the shadow inside, the baby is still moving around. No peeping or anything though.

 

[katharinad]

We are all trying to give the best advise possible, but reality is they are upside down and none of use there taking a look. They may not get air even if you puncture the air sack. Puncturing the spot where their bill is is very tricky and very hard to do. I would not even advise to try it. The sad news is that may drown in their own fluids, if they don't turn around and get into the air sack. I really hate to put out the truth, but be prepared. The best is not to mess with it and hope for the best. CityChicker is right with telling you that we cannot really help unless we are physically there seeing it, and even then there may be nothing we can do. Things are different if they have piped externally. So give it time and hope that it will all work out in the end.

I was thinking about this hole thing and think they are early due to carbon dioxide buildup. This is more a rational guess to find an explanation. It is hard to build an incubator and get the air exchange or carbon dioxide right. Manufacturers use sensitive equipment to measure this and create the correct number of holes and diameters to get an up draft of air. This mean they have also in build holes or small slots into the lid. I think the buildup caused the ducks to develop to fast and that is why you see so many upside down. I truly hope they will make it. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[davekrista]

Quote:
Thanks Katherina,
I just want to do the best thing at this point. I realize they developed fast, and I can't change that at this point. I know that. But is there anything I can and should be doing at this point to help them have better chances? And by that I'm not meaning helping them hatch necessarily, but maybe up the humidity, heat or anything like that?

 

[katharinad]

Quote:
I wish there could be something you could do besides what you are doing. Just keep the temperature and humidity right, but you already have that done. I would say have the eggs laying on their sides flat in the incubator. This allow the eggs to move and hopefully they can turn around. Using cups or egg trays will prevent the movement, so I would advise not to use anything like that. I hope we get good news soon.

 

[davekrista]

Quote:
I wish there could be something you could do besides what you are doing. Just keep the temperature and humidity right, but you already have that done. I would say have the eggs laying on their sides flat in the incubator. This allow the eggs to move and hopefully they can turn around. Using cups or egg trays will prevent the movement, so I would advise not to use anything like that. I hope we get good news soon.

OK, They are on their sides as well. So I sit and wait...

Thanks.

 

[duckluck]

Quote:
You left out the most important point. It keeps the incubator clean! Especially good when you are using a Styrofoam incubator. I always say the the most expensive one for incubating, and the cheaper one for hatching.

Yep! Kind of what I was getting at about the staggered hatch thing, which if you were hatching with other eggs in there, it would get kinda messy and germy for them to stay in there, but yep, I should have spelled it out. Also, the importance of staggering the hatches enough to allow for the hatcher to have at least a day of down time for cleaning and restarting...it can be tough after setting eggs to NOT set more right away if they are laid on say, the very next day, but it's important to give the newly set eggs at least a week of lead time on the next setting for this very reason...not all the eggs in the first setting will follow the same schedule, and you don't want to be rushing to clean and restart or having eggs from the next setting going and pipping on you before you get the hatcher clean. Of course, you can always add a second hatcher to the collection...

 

[duckluck]

Quote:
OK..So I would have been less worried if you had said at least one of the cracks was actually where the air cell is - but nothing you can really do but wait it out a bit longer at this stage. Being that the cracks are not in the aircell- making a breathing hole in through the shell at this stage is risky as you could actually puncture a vein and the duckling could bleed to death.

Ok I do see what you are saying, but what about the original one where the crack meets the black and white? Also I think I read in one of the posts that when an actual external pip happens, it messes up the temp and humidity? I can't remember where I saw that but saw it in the last couple days. My humidity went from 83% down to 64% in like less than a minute. Temp went from 97 to 100 as well.... Not sure why. Could be pip somewhere? I'm getting my kids ready for bed and after ward I am going to try to look at all angles of the incubator that i can see through the glass.

Depends on the bator and how many eggs you are hatching. Maybe, maybe not. I am having a hard time picturing your bator, but my Humidaire Model 50 holds a pretty tight tolerance on temp, it has the Zytron controller on it and my Brinsea Spot-Chek hardly wavers unless I open the bator. The hatcher, however, does not, as it is designed to allow the temperature to fall about half a degree or so before it kicks in again. That heat-up/cooldown function is specifically because it is a hatcher. I had thought ot change out to the Zytron on that until I learned this about the machine, and now I figure, why mess with success?