Help! Duck Egg Hatching First Timer

[PeggyTheEggy]

Hi All! I have a few general questions about duck egg hatching. Over a month ago, I noticed a duck in my front yard and after a few days realized she was nesting there. Fast forward to about a week and a half ago and a raccoon attacks the duck, and an opossum starts paying regular visits to eat the unprotected eggs. Eventually, there is only one egg left with no chance of survival outside, so I decided to take it in and warm it up. Because the egg was left out for about 24 hours without the mother sitting on it, I was uncertain that it was even still growing inside, but put the egg under a heat lamp and tried to maintain an even temperature for the night. In the morning I candled the egg and to my surprise it was moving! After that I got an incubator for it and have been candling about once a day and seeing growth.

At this point, I suspect the egg is very close to day 28 of incubation, but cannot be sure of the exact day because I don’t know when the duck started incubating her eggs. Based on candling, this egg looks very ready to hatch, but I haven’t seen a defined beak in the air sac. Other than the air sac, the egg is completely dark and I can see some movement near the edge of the air pocket am worried about the possibility of needing to make a safety hole or help the hatch but don’t think hatching has began yet.

1. When internal pipping occurs, will I definitely hear the duck making sounds and peeping?
2. When internal pipping occurs, will I definitely be able to see the beak in the air sac during candling?
3. Is it safe to open the incubator to continue candling until before an external pip is made?

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Here is a photo from candling yesterday evening:

 

[Cazook]

i wouldn't candle or handle the egg if it is that close to hatching, because the duckling will be getting into position for hatch. now is time to be patient.

you will sometimes hear it cheeping, but not always. good luck

 

[PeggyTheEggy]

i wouldn't candle or handle the egg if it is that close to hatching, because the duckling will be getting into position for hatch. now is time to be patient.

you will sometimes hear it cheeping, but not always. good luck

Thank you! I have only been candling without moving the egg at all the past few times. Do you think this is okay to do?

 

[Sierra G]

The answer to all three questions is very probably.

I can't speak to how well you hear, but after internal pipping the duck will begin to tap on the shell attempting to externally pip. It may peep as well.

You should also be able to see the duckling moving into hatching position during that time. You can candle during this period if necessary, but it's not typically necessary unless you think there might be positioning problems which are unlikely since you're seeing movement and have presumably been turning the egg.

Since you're sure the egg is close to hatching my recommendation would be to candle one more time if you haven't marked the aircell on the egg. This is a position check. Try to determine how the duckling is positioned and where it's most likely to pip. This is usually going go be where the air cell is biggest about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way down the egg from the rounded end (as opposed to the pointier end) . Make a pencil mark on that point. Put the egg back in the incubator on its side with the mark you made pointed up. If you have a small flat mirror you can put it on the floor of the incubator positioned so you can see the bottom of the aircell end, but it's not crucial that you do this. Just put the egg where you have a good view of it., maybe with the aircell pointed at the wall since it seems to be transparent. Add some water to increase humidity in the incubator to about 70-75% and drop the temperature to 99F/ 37.2C.

Then just wait and let your duckling do what comes naturally. The safety hole might do more harm than good since you don't know exactly how close to hatch you are. Twenty-eight days is approximate under optimal conditions and there have been some reasons this hatch might have been delayed. You're close enough for lockdown but it's too soon for extreme intervention.

I'd check for an external pip at intervals at least three hours apart. When you're looking for external pipping remember it can be a pyramid shaped bump or a obvious hole. And just because you marked where you think the bird will pip doesn't mean it has to pip there. Since your only dealing with one egg you aren't risking as much breaking lockdown, so if you like or if you can't see the egg well in your incubator I'd think it would be safe to open the incubator to inspect the egg more thoroughly. But if you pick it up, don't roll it, flip it, drop it or do anything else to change the duckling's position. You're only doing this if you think the duckling has pipped at the wrong end though. The more you handle the egg the more incremental risk the hatchling is at.

 

[PeggyTheEggy]

The answer to all three questions is very probably.

I can't speak to how well you hear, but after internal pipping the duck will begin to tap on the shell attempting to externally pip. It may peep as well.

You should also be able to see the duckling moving into hatching position during that time. You can candle during this period if necessary, but it's not typically necessary unless you think there might be positioning problems which are unlikely since you're seeing movement and have presumably been turning the egg.

Since you're sure the egg is close to hatching my recommendation would be to candle one more time if you haven't marked the aircell on the egg. This is a position check. Try to determine how the duckling is positioned and where it's most likely to pip. This is usually going go be where the air cell is biggest about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way down the egg from the rounded end (as opposed to the pointier end) . Make a pencil mark on that point. Put the egg back in the incubator on its side with the mark you made pointed up. If you have a small flat mirror you can put it on the floor of the incubator positioned so you can see the bottom of the aircell end, but it's not crucial that you do this. Just put the egg where you have a good view of it., maybe with the aircell pointed at the wall since it seems to be transparent. Add some water to increase humidity in the incubator to about 70-75% and drop the temperature to 99F/ 37.2C.

Then just wait and let your duckling do what comes naturally. The safety hole might do more harm than good since you don't know exactly how close to hatch you are. Twenty-eight days is approximate under optimal conditions and there have been some reasons this hatch might have been delayed. You're close enough for lockdown but it's too soon for extreme intervention.

I'd check for an external pip at intervals at least three hours apart. When you're looking for external pipping remember it can be a pyramid shaped bump or a obvious hole. And just because you marked where you think the bird will pip doesn't mean it has to pip there. Since your only dealing with one egg you aren't risking as much breaking lockdown, so if you like or if you can't see the egg well in your incubator I'd think it would be safe to open the incubator to inspect the egg more thoroughly. But if you pick it up, don't roll it, flip it, drop it or do anything else to change the duckling's position. You're only doing this if you think the duckling has pipped at the wrong end though. The more you handle the egg the more incremental risk the hatchling is at.

Thank you, this sounds like great advice! I am hoping the duck is in the correct orientation. I was turning it up until this past Saturday because I had assumed it was getting close to hatch then and didn’t want to disturb it too much. We did take it out a couple times to candle since then though. The humidity has been between 55 and 68 since then as well because I thought hatching would occur sooner. I do think it’s possible the air sac is a bit small because of this but it has definitely grown since the first candling. Do you think this humidity is too high for days before day 25? I candled the egg a little while ago and the movement was similar to what I saw yesterday.

The movement that I saw was at the bottom of the aircell. It looks like the movement is happening above the very bottom outline of the aircell but I don’t see any defined features like a beak in that area (photos 2 and 3). I also noticed two darker spots on the shell in the aircell area that I did not notice before (1st photo). Mostly I am worried that pipping may occur without me knowing and I won’t be able to make a safety hole in time if necessary!

 

[Sierra G]

With ducks and geese I normally use a humidity of 55 for development and 75 for hatching. If the egg is losing weight normally it should be fine. Changing the humidity during lockdown is intended to make hatching easier. If the egg hasn't lost enough weight by day 25 it probably won't make a difference no matter what you do so I'd recommend at least 68% for lockdown.

I wouldn't worry about not being there when pipping occurs. Mother ducks don't make safety holes and if the duckling is well positioned, which it appears to be, it should be able to pip and zip unassisted. You've done almost everything you could for it, I don't think you're going to have to take the shell off for it too. Just be patient.

 

[raingarden]

Trying to help a chick out of the egg has never worked for me. Now I just wait. If it makes it then it makes it.

 

[PeggyTheEggy]

With ducks and geese I normally use a humidity of 55 for development and 75 for hatching. If the egg is losing weight normally it should be fine. Changing the humidity during lockdown is intended to make hatching easier. If the egg hasn't lost enough weight by day 25 it probably won't make a difference no matter what you do so I'd recommend at least 68% for lockdown.

I wouldn't worry about not being there when pipping occurs. Mother ducks don't make safety holes and if the duckling is well positioned, which it appears to be, it should be able to pip and zip unassisted. You've done almost everything you could for it, I don't think you're going to have to take the shell off for it too. Just be patient.

Thank you for your advice! Have been patiently waiting and just spotted what looks like an internal pip during tonight’s candling! Fingers crossed for a safe hatch soon!

 

[Black Pirate]

Do keep us updated my guy!

 

[PeggyTheEggy]

It has now been about 24 hours since we first noticed the internal pip, but we had last candled about 20 hours before that so it may have occurred sooner. Candled and put in a safety hole... still no external pip. Any advice?