Duckling Egg In Lockdown But Air Sac Turning Black

[marxrab]

Hi there. This is my first time posting here so I hope I'm doing this correctly. So here is my problem...

I have one dozen duckling eggs in my incubator right now. I put them in lockdown on the start of day 26 and today is day 27. Two pipped last night and two more pipped this morning. The reason for this post is I have a fifth one that is noticeably black where it's air sac should be. I thought it was dead so I pulled it and candled it. I was surprised to see movement inside and a little beak in the air sac. Candled the air sac appears yellow and red and black around the edges of the air sac. Does anyone know what's going on and why it would be changing colors? Is something wrong with the air sac and I need to worry about it suffocating? At what point should I feel like I should help it by puncturing a hole? Pictures below.

I don't know if this is relevant but I'll give more details. The two eggs with the most progress appear shrink wrapped even though it was in lockdown and I didn't open the lid except for a few seconds to remove the one egg and to warm mist inside through a small opening. I made the mistake of buying a non-brand name cheaper Chinese incubator off of ebay and humidity has been my biggest struggle. I can never get it above 76%. All I can do is spray warm water every few hours. I had four other eggs successfully hatch last week but they also shrink wrapped and I had to assist getting them out. They are happy and healthy a week later. The two shrink wrapped eggs I know exactly how to help them. I wet their openings and membrane with a q-tip and will monitor them to see if they need help down the line. Right now they are far from ready to hatch and will probably need another 12 to 24 hours.

Anyways, does anyone know what's going on with the egg in the attached pictures? Why is it turning black? Should I pop a small hole in it to get some air in there or should I keep waiting? I know if something is wrong if I wait too long it could be death for the duckling so if I can help it I'd like to try to give it a chance.

 

[MGG]

What breed ducks are you hatching? With dark colored birds my air cells always turn dark after the internal pip, I think its because the egg is more transparent or something and you can kinda see through it. I wouldn't worry about it, but if you are you can always make a small air cell. How long ago did it internally pip?

 

[marxrab]

What breed ducks are you hatching? With dark colored birds my air cells always turn dark after the internal pip, I think its because the egg is more transparent or something and you can kinda see through it. I wouldn't worry about it, but if you are you can always make a small air cell. How long ago did it internally pip?

Hi there! They are black swedish ducks. I did end up making a small air cell. It had been over 12 hours since I first saw it pip internally so I felt maybe it was time to help it due to the strange color change. It's alive but using a flash light in the hole it looked shrink wrapped and I guess that's why it couldn't finish pipping. I didn't open the incubator since going into lockdown except to do a quick 5 second warm spray to keep the humidity up when I saw it drop down to 72-74%. It's been really hard to get the humidity high enough. There air is so dry in my house that I need to get it up to probably 80% humidity but it's impossible with this cheapy incubator.

 

[MGG]

Hi there! They are black swedish ducks. I did end up making a small air cell. It had been over 12 hours since I first saw it pip internally so I felt maybe it was time to help it due to the strange color change. It's alive but using a flash light in the hole it looked shrink wrapped and I guess that's why it couldn't finish pipping. I didn't open the incubator since going into lockdown except to do a quick 5 second warm spray to keep the humidity up when I saw it drop down to 72-74%. It's been really hard to get the humidity high enough. There air is so dry in my house that I need to get it up to probably 80% humidity but it's impossible with this cheapy incubator.

So it's a dark duckling? I'm guessing thats what the coloring is from. Usually they have enough air to last about 24-36 hours, but it's fine. It probably is not shrink wrapped, was it covered by a white membrane? If so, its fine. As long as the membrane isn't dark yellow in there it will be fine. Good luck, fingers crossed they all hatch!

 

[marxrab]

So it's a dark duckling? I'm guessing thats what the coloring is from. Usually they have enough air to last about 24-36 hours, but it's fine. It probably is not shrink wrapped, was it covered by a white membrane? If so, its fine. As long as the membrane isn't dark yellow in there it will be fine. Good luck, fingers crossed they all hatch!

Thank you for helping. I did decide to poke a hole in the air sac because I didn't know when the duckling pipped internally originally and I figured I was in the danger zone of it suffocating. The inside was yellow and brown so it was really dried out. I used a q-tip to wet everything down and put it back in the incubator. It's still got veins visible so it's not ready to come out but at least it has an air hole and I will keep q-tipping water to see if it can make it out on it's own. The egg shell went back to white after I poked the hole so maybe the yellowing/blackening was a sign there was very little air? IDK. The little one is peeping a lot and moving a lot so I've got my fingers crossed it'll be okay.

 

[MGG]

Thank you for helping. I did decide to poke a hole in the air sac because I didn't know when the duckling pipped internally originally and I figured I was in the danger zone of it suffocating. The inside was yellow and brown so it was really dried out. I used a q-tip to wet everything down and put it back in the incubator. It's still got veins visible so it's not ready to come out but at least it has an air hole and I will keep q-tipping water to see if it can make it out on it's own. The egg shell went back to white after I poked the hole so maybe the yellowing/blackening was a sign there was very little air? IDK. The little one is peeping a lot and moving a lot so I've got my fingers crossed it'll be okay.

Sounds good, great job! Instead of water though, can you use coconut oil, vegetable oil, or something like that instead? It will keep it moist way longer than water. Just try not to get it in baby's bill.

 

[americanchicks]

Ducks take forever to hatch. Your best bet is just to let them be and play the waiting game. If your having trouble with humidity try a warm damp paper towel. Mine stays around 60% during lockdown. It will increase a lot after they start to hatch. Happy hatching.