Day 29 and no internal pipping.

[Mum]

Title says it all really.

There is a good size air sac though.

What would you do?

 

[duckyfromoz]

When did you last candle the eggs? Are they in an incubator- or under a duck? If in an Incubator- I would candle them and check for signs of life or to see if they have at least pipped into the aircell and are still alive. If they have their bills in the aircell and I could see movement- I would give them a really good misting with warm water and leave them for a while to see if the extra moisture allowed them to move a bit more to be able to pip through the shell.

 

[Mum]

Incubator.

Just checked; still no sign of internal pipping.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Did you see any movement or signs the ducklings were still alive inside the eggs? How was the humidity throughout the incubation. If the aircells are really big- it could be a sign that too much moisture was lost and the ducklings werent able to turn in the egg to break through into the aircell.

 

[Mum]

Thank you, duckyfromoz.

It is one egg (had 2 but the other one hatched with still 2 days to go and is now in the brooder pen). Up until a week before due date, they were under a broody hen; but, 5 went broody and one of three eggs got damaged. So, I moved these two to a small incubator. The humidity and temperature are automatically controlled by the incubator.

A few hours ago, I tried peeling off a little bit of the shell (a previous egg I had under a broody, got abandoned at the last minute by the hen and I did this with that egg and discovered the duckling shrink wrapped and managed to save it). In this instance, the membrane is fine and there is wobbly movements within it (which was not visible via candling).

So, I have covered the shell hole with a little piece of cling film and put the egg back into the incubator with all my fingers and toes crossed

Just checked the egg again now, the membrane still has something wobbling within it so I shall wait patiently.

It will be interesting if the hatch works ok and a lesson that maybe cracked eggs can be salvaged.

 

[Mum]

Problem solved; the wobble wasn't a duckling just a watery mess with an under developed embryo.

 

[PetDuck]

...
Sorry...