Help with duckling hatch

[sarahdw]

Hello all, I’m new here and have been reading so much info. My situation in a nutshell: we’d been watching one fertilized egg in our mama ducks nest. She abandoned the nest last Sat, 8/10. We gave her another day to see if she’d return and then put egg in incubator. I put it in lockdown because we presumed it was nearly time to hatch. 5 days ago, I think the baby internally pipped. I could hear tapping and peeping from the egg, and make out the shape of the beak. However the beak appeared to be pushing up on a membrane when I looked in while candling. Last night I made a safety hole in egg (presumably 4 days after internal pip) when I looked in the hole I could see the entire duck appears blanketed by white papery membrane. This morning I enlarged the safety hole and the entire duck that I can see is under the dry, white papery membrane. I can make out its beak. I applied Vaseline to the membrane reachable through the opening and then I could see many little blood vessels. At this point I’ve put the egg back in incubator and left it alone. It is still moving and peeping but no beak has broken through. What does anyone suggest for next steps? Thank you all! We are emotionally invested in this baby so of course it’s nerve-wracking!

 

[Debbie292d]

Since you're hearing it peep, it's very close to hatching. It sounds like it got shrink-wrapped and might have difficulty breaking through though.

This is just a guess though since you don't know what day of incubation this duck egg is on, and it might not even be due to hatch until tomorrow.

This unknown makes it a hard call. I'd tend to try to wait a bit, but if you feel the need to help it out, here's an excellent article on how to do it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

 

[sarahdw]

Thank you for getting back! I’m inclined to let it be also, the issue is I’ve already made about a nickel sized hole. Duckie is still peeping and pressing on the membrane but should I be concerned that there is no bill visible at this point or assume he’ll be able to get it through the membrane eventually?

 

[sarahdw]

Update: this morning the duck has finally externally pipped, but on the opposite end from where I made the safety hole. He’s pipped on the narrow end. I’m hoping he can hatch himself from here on out!

 

[sarahdw]

He has hatched!!! I noticed the pip this morning at 6 am and he’s already out of the egg, all yolk was absorbed and he did it by himself in less than 2 hours!!!

 

[Minigoatfarm]

Congratulations!!