![]() ![]() How many hours has it been since you noticed the first external pip? That doesn't definitively mean this duckling doesn't need help, but in my experience would be most likely not ready for help. If your duck egg is only on day 27, I'd be less likely to expect it needs help hatching yet, than a duck egg that's going on day 30. MOST duck eggs hatch in 28 days, except for muscovies (33-35 days) and bantam duck breeds (usually 27 days). (I've recently had a few people counting days from when the eggs were laid, which was messing them up.) That first day in the incubator is Day 1. Remember - duck eggs begin to develop when you put them in the incubator. Now - a few questions about your duckling: How many days has the egg been incubating? I’m not saying this to scare you from helping, but I just think it’s important to know about what’s going on in there after the first external pip, and how vital it is for the duckling’s survival that those things happen before getting it out of the shell. It has to finish the vital work of ceasing blood flow through the membrane, and absorbing that yolk sac, which can easily be punctured and result in an un-closed navel if it’s helped from the egg too soon. In general, I would not usually consider assisting a duckling until they have been externally pipped for about 36 hours…that’s about when I start to worry.Īlmost never is a duckling ready to leave the shell right away after it externally pips. If the hatching process is helped along too early, the fears would be nicking a blood vein in the membrane and weakening the duckling, or worse, the duckling hatching before the yolk has fully absorbed. Some are ready to be out of the shell 8 hours after the first pip. This timeline for these things being completed after pipping isn't the same for every duckling. This needs time to happen, so that the duckling won’t lose blood as the egg opens and the membrane tears. The remainder of the yolk sac is drawn up into their belly, and the umbilicus can then close.Īlso during this time, the blood veins that permeate the membrane around the duckling still flow into her through the still-attached umbilicus, and those are just beginning to dry up after the duckling pips. During that time between pipping and hatching, the duckling is almost always finishing absorbing the yolk sac. BUT - in general, I would not usually consider assisting a duckling until they have been externally pipped for about 36 hours…that’s about when I start to worry. Just like with human birth, every hatch is unique, so there are no hard and fast rules. Knowing when to help hatch a duckling is SO VERY tricky. It can be really, really easy to do more harm than good by helping a duckling hatch too soon. Now that you know I'm a firm believer in helping when necessary, please hear this: I’ve helped quite a number of them, in the course of hatching out many, many hundreds of ducklings over the years. Usually, that best chance involves simply being left alone to take its own time hatching, but sometimes a duckling does need help and in my opinion, they deserve it. A duckling that may have hatched easily under a mama duck may need help in the not-quite-perfect environment of the incubator, and this is not necessarily indicative of a weak duckling that "nature says isn't strong enough to survive." I'm a firm believer in giving every duckling every chance. ![]() Incubators are excellent, but often imperfect devices for hatching duck eggs, and there's also skill and experience involved. This is something you will often hear in duck-keeping circles, but I don't ascribe to it. Let me just start by saying I’m not one who believes you should never help a duckling. (You're still welcome to email me, but my hope is that this might help you in the meantime!) When should you help a duckling hatch? ![]() Since I'm getting so many of these emails, but often don't get a chance to respond until a few hours later, I wanted to get a little more information online, to help at least introduce you to my thought process in deciding whether it's time to help a particular egg hatch. Hatching duck eggs can be nerve wracking, since it generally takes much longer than with chicken eggs! This is a really common question this time of year, and one thing I've noticed about these emails is that many of them are sent in the wee hours of the morning, from people looking for information about what to do with an egg that's taking much longer to hatch than they expected. This week, I've been hearing from an average of 3 new people each day - all folks who are incubating duck eggs for the first time, and looking for help knowing whether they should help a particular duckling hatch out of their shell.
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