Pipping but not zipping

Jinglebells0518 · Jul 24, 2018

Help! I am incubating duck eggs for the first time. I went to start lockdown but one of the eggs was an early bloomer and already had an external pip. By the time we turned off the rotator, filled the humidity wells, and put the egg back in the incubator it had been out for about 3 minutes. It was moving when we initially picked it up but we have never heard it or seen it move unless it was being held and I'm not exactly sure when it started pipping.

I know for a fact it has been externally pipped for 13 hours now and hasn't shown any signs of progression. It also pipped upside down so just everything is going wrong.

Is it time to panic yet? Is it common to show no signs of zipping at this stage. It made it this far and now I'm worried it either got shrunk wrapped or ran out of air since the air sac is on the other end and I'm not sure it externally pipped enough to breathe. I need advice!

cmom · Jul 24, 2018

You can pick a little bit of shell around the pip and check to see if it looks stuck. Also you can mist the egg to give it more moisture. Usually even though the egg is pipped on the wrong end it is likely it will still hatch ok. I have had a few over the years and they hatched out ok. Just keep an eye on it.

Chicken Whisperers · Jul 24, 2018

Ok your not really supposed to do this but sometimes it's an exception: get a warm, damp cloth and take the egg out. Place it in the cloth, and get a toothpick, or you could use your finger. Just kinda pick the she'll away so that there's a big enough opening for the chick to breathe. Also, be VERY careful of the veins surrounding it. If it is shrink wrapped like you said, get the cloth a bit more warm and wet and surround the egg. That should be humid enough to sort of un shrink the membrane. Wish you luck!

Jinglebells0518 · Jul 24, 2018

How long do you think he has oxygen wise? Like how long should I wait before I decide to peel back some shell. Is there any point that I should peel back a tiny piece of shell and snip the membrane for oxygen and let him go from there?

Will he be okay to have out of the humidity while I peel the shell? How fast does the membrane dry out.

Our incubator humidity is around 71-74%. Haven't been able to get it much higher than that but lots of condensation on the incubation windows

oregonkat · Jul 24, 2018

Like cmom said, pipping at the wrong end of the egg is not necessarily a problem. These chicks generally take much longer to hatch than others. It can take a long time, sometimes a day or more to go from pip to zip so be patient. The chick has made the external pip so it will not run out of air. Read this article:https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/
Good Luck and don't panic. Keep posting please!

Jinglebells0518 · Jul 24, 2018

This is all there is to the pip so I'm not sure it's broken enough for oxygen? Sorry the picture is bad. Was taken quickly

oregonkat · Jul 24, 2018

Leave it be! If there is no change by the end of day today, then the conversation shifts a little bit but your humidity is good and the pip looks good but like I said, the wrong end pippers can take much longer to hatch than the normal ones. Unless you have been opening the bator there is no reason for this chick to be shrink wrapped, so you should not be too worried about that.

Jinglebells0518 · Jul 24, 2018

Haven't been opening it except for that first time when we hadn't realized he had pipped yet. That was a bit lengthy but I think the humidity dropped to about 50 and was back at 70 within 10 minutes so I'm not sure the damage that might have caused. That was just last night when we first noticed the pipping. Can you check this thread is about 10 hours in case we need to have the conversation about what the next step will be if nothing progresses?

Do you think this chick is getting external oxygen yet?

Islandmom511 · Jul 24, 2018

Just curious but what day are you on? I’m having the same issue with my duck eggs and am on day 25 today. One is much more developed and rocking for 48 hours but no pip and the others are way less developed- no rocking at all. Humidity around 74% and only opening slightly to add water.

oregonkat · Jul 24, 2018

@Jinglebells0518 What has your humidity been during this entire hatch? You do not want a lot of condensation on the window of the bator at this time. One of the reasons that chicks pip at the wrong end of the egg is if the humidity was too high during incubation which causes the air cell to remain too small and the chick grows too big in the shell to be able to turn around.

Pipping but not zipping

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