Hatching ducklings

[Bronwyn_brooke]

Hello everyone! This is my first time hatching ducklings and I’m not 100% sure what to do. They pipped internally over 24 hours and did not break through the egg. After watching several videos and reading articles, I made a small hole in the egg for breathing. I broke a bit of the egg away so I could see what was going on. (Perhaps the wrong thing to do but I wasn’t sure)
They are back in the incubator and I’m not doing more as there are evident healthy blood vessels present. I’ve wiped down the membrane with coconut oil to keep moist and put them back in the incubator. Please let me know what your thoughts are and if you feel I am doing anything wrong/ should be doing it differently. My other 2 have not popped internally and I’m not sure if they need some help….
Thank you so much, I really appreciate any advice you are willing to give!
Kind regards Bronwyn

 

[Yardmom]

Please be patient. Ducklings take longer than 24 hours to hatch. The veins are one of the signs that they are not ready to come out of the eggs At this point keep your humidity up any only open when absolutely necessary. Let them be and hope for the best. Help only after veins are gone and the ducklings are not opening and closing their mouths while they absorb the yolk.
For the future if you need to make a safety hole it should be no bigger than a nail hole. This would be only about 3 days after the internal pip.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

With the two that have not internet pips yet there is nothing you can do but wait unless you see bruising at the wrong end then you would make a safety hole in the middle of the bruise only as big as a pin
For the two you helped you went a bit to far to early. Please don’t do anything else for 24 hours
When mine don’t crack the shell by 24 hours I make a small pin hole size further up from where the beak is so air is getting in but not affecting the hatch
90% of the time they still make their owl external pip and hatch themselves
Internal pip is around 24 hours
External to hatch can be 24-48 more hours
These little ones are far from ready yet
Using Vaseline keeps it moist longer so your not in the bator as often
Oil is better for seeing veins
Also I have had many hatches last over 3 days so be patient with the ones that haven’t started yet as there can be cool and warm areas in a bator that cause different hatch times.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I’m adding pics of external pips and you can see just how tiny the little crack they make. This is important as they need air to breath but not to much open to keep Bactria out and membrane from drying So when we help we need to do the same. I also added the zip so you can see they keep the membrane safe right till the end
Hope these help
If you stay patient and relax these babies still have a good chance to hatch but it’s important they stay in the egg to absorb