Candling Duck eggs diary!

I havent seen much on Candling Duck eggs, so im going to share my experience with you. I was very new to this whole ordeal. On the fourth of July i found a duck egg on the banks of a pond, there was only one. Im assuming this was momma ducks first egg to lay. I picked it up and took it back with me, determined i would save this little ducky and make him hatch!
Heres my day by day pictures! Below is a picture of my home incubator ive made, the egg is in a bigger box now. But im just using a lamp, with a heating bulb and a moist towel sitting next to my egg to keep some moisture in the air around him. Which makes things easier for the duckling when hatching from his shell.



First time i candled.





Exactly a week later. The spider veins became a little more visable, Ducky is officially growing!! And the neat thing, i started seeing a HEARTBEAT!!




Day 11 of incubation. Dark blob was growing a little bit more. I just dont know what the blob is at the bottom of the egg?! Help!?



As of 7/18 this is what ducky looks like now! Boy is he a sqirmy little guy! And he tries to get away from the light.



Something is defintely moving in there! Does this look about normal to everyone else?!
Ive still got about a week and a half to go till day 28!!


IM NEW to this so ill take all the help/advise i can get, please and thank you!!

Sorry I have no advice to offer but I hope you keep us updated on the progress. I may hatch some duck eggs next yr.

I'm going to write this for any newbie's that are reading this and thinking about it....you should not take eggs from the wild (from a non domesticated bird ie mallards, wood ducks, ect), it is illegal.

That being said, things looks normal....but for a week and a half left to go I would think it would be a little bigger then that. I candle my eggs usually at day 14, and they are already taking up a good portion of the egg.

I did not intentionally take the duck from the mother duck. All the other ones were smashed and broken like a kid did it, or a bird. Thank you.

Karkarlie said:

On the fourth of July i found a duck egg on the banks of a pond, there was only one. Im assuming this was momma ducks first egg to lay.

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Your post stated there was only one egg..but reguardless, I was just stating a fact....whether you took it while the mother duck was there or not....it's illegal. I pointed that fact out for any other newbie who came on here and read this thread and started thinking it was a wonderful idea.....thank you. No need to get angry...it's a public forum and I voiced my opinion, which everybody is entitled to do. Good luck with your egg

Looks good!

A mother duck in my back yard was killed by a coyote recently and I am currently doing the exact same thing you are doing (but with 15 eggs). I am candling mine and I can see movement. I think your egg might not be as far along as you predict. With only a week and a half left, it should be occupying a little more space in the egg. Let me know how it goes, I'm interested!

-Dominic

Thank you Domonic!! I really appriciate it! And i will keep you updated!


And to the one thats worried about me "stealing" the egg and it being illegal. Go hug a tree. Im doing something to help an innocent animal. Thank you for your opinion. Thank you for also taking the time out to take my original statment and repost. I didnt explain why it was the only egg untill you said something back to me.

i picked up a dying baby owl and fixed it cost me a 500 dollar fine was worth saving it but will all game commission next time

Looks good! Thank goodness you put those pictures up there... My eggs are 10 days old and look the same as yours.
Happy hatching and welcome to BYC!

PetesMom said:

I'm going to write this for any newbie's that are reading this and thinking about it....you should not take eggs from the wild (from a non domesticated bird ie mallards, wood ducks, ect), it is illegal.

That being said, things looks normal....but for a week and a half left to go I would think it would be a little bigger then that. I candle my eggs usua7lly at day 14, and they are already taking up a good portion of the egg.

Click to expand...

i know you were trying to help the little guy, but I do agree, it is illegal to take birds from the wild. When I first read it, I thought they were your ducks. When and if it hatches, you may want to take it to a rehab center so it can go live in the wild like it is supposed to.

however, if it hatches out as a domesticated duck species, i would say no probs, it wasnt supposed to be there in the first place.

If it is a mallard, in some places you need a permit to own one. If you found the egg in a secluded area in the bush, the mommy may have been starting a nest as they only lay an egg a day.
also, the egg only looks like a week old total. It takes 28 days to hatch mallzrd derivitives and with such little time left, the egg needs to be more developed.