[nettelein]

Hi there.
now into the final week of incubation, I'm well prepared to welcome the little ducklings soon. it's day 23 since putting the eggs into the incubator and so far everything has been going very well. I was just going through all my notes I made through the last few weeks:

-The first stage of the hatch itself is when the duckling pushes its beak through the membrane into the air sack at one end of the egg (a process called internal pipping). At this point you can hear the ducklings tapping on the shells and cheeping
-The next stage (up to two days later) is the external pip when they make the first tiny crack in the shell. It just looks like a little bump but gives them the air they need to continue.
-Finally (again, up to one or two days later) the duckling pushes its beak through the shell breaking it and then wriggling round to break the next section until the end of the egg opens enough for it to be free!

please check if this info is correct, as I have come across so many variations on time ect.

Will the first stage start after 28 days of incubation, or will the duckling actually hatch after 28 days.
I know, the duckling won't count the days, so it won't be exact. 

This is sooooo exciting!!!!!

[deepinthewoods]

i cant help, but it sounds like really good fun!! enjoy

[jaykay]

If the duckling hasn't made much more progress about 6 hours after making the first 'pip', I help a bit. You have to go very slowly and stop the second any tiny membrane tear causes bleeding - this tells you they need more 'processing' time. I just enlarge the hole a bit, but you have to keep the humidity high.

You can lose some at this stage, so be prepared for that - I guess 'birth' for any animal is quite a dangerous time.

That said, it is very exciting and ducklings have to be some of the world's cutest creatures! 

What breed of duck? My runners start pipping at 28 days, the calls at 24.

[nettelein]

Thanks, Jaykay. They are Aylesburys, so incubation is 28 days. I'ld rather not interfere at all, like you said, far to risky. If I'm very lucky, I'll have some hopefully strong and healthy ducklings this time next week. Day 24 today, the humidity is 65% at the moment. Should I spray the eggs with water now to increase humidity? One book tells you one thing, the other something else. So it's a bit of try and hope for the best. I will stop turning the eggs tomorrow, as advised. I also read I should lower the temperature to 36.1 degrees once I stop turning the eggs. What do you think?