Just a quack update today — a lot is happening and anxiety is riding the thermals.
Pekin Eggs #3 & #4 Have Pipped Internally
Internal pipping is the moment a duckling breaks through the inner membrane and into the air cell — its first breath of real air, still entirely inside the shell.
From here, external pipping — when the shell is cracked open — typically follows within 24 to 48 hours.
Duckling #3 has internally pipped!
The little beak of duckling #4 tapping against its shell.
The Scary Bit: When Is an Assist Air Hole Necessary?
One of the harder lessons I learned while incubating rare Dewlap Toulouse goose eggs last year is that there are moments in the hatching process where intervention may be necessary.
Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way. I had observed a couple of goslings pip internally, but they never made it out of their shells. By the time I worked up the courage to drill a small assist air hole, they had already suffocated and perished.
Image of a safety air hole being drilled in a goose egg, taken from a YouTube video.
Some believe that if a hatchling is too weak to emerge on its own, then natural selection should take its course. There is truth to that. But in the case of shipped eggs — like last year’s Dewlap Toulouses, and now these Pekins and Muscovies — they’ve already been put at a disadvantage. The jostling, temperature fluctuations, and general stress of transport are things that would never occur under a mother duck’s care.
My feeling, at least for now, is that if there are reasonably safe ways to assist, they are worth considering.
The challenge, of course, is knowing when.
Intervene too early, and you risk puncturing active blood vessels in the membrane — which can be fatal. Wait too long, and the duckling may run out of oxygen before it can break through.
For now, I’m disinfecting my tools and keeping them nearby… just in case.
What About Egg #6 & #8?
Their flights have been delayed — figuratively, of course.
They’re still developing, but not yet at the same pre-hatch “dip down” stage as eggs #3 and #4. For now, I’m keeping them in the main incubator so they can continue developing under stable conditions.
Only eggs #3 and #4 are in the lockdown incubator at the moment.
The lockdown incubator — where hatching takes place — is set to a higher humidity. This added moisture helps soften the shell and keeps the inner membrane from drying out.
That’s important, because if the membrane dries too early, it can tighten around the duckling in a condition known as “shrink wrapping,” which can foil a successful hatch
I know today’s update feels a little stressful — it is a tense moment. We’re in that quiet, uncertain stretch where things could tip either way.
Hopefully, I’ll have lighter, fluffier news to share very soon.
Thanks for following along!
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xoxo
P
