HELP Incubating Duck eggs first time- mama duck was attacked and nest was abandoned

[Duck eggs 2023]

Hello,

I found an abandoned nest of 22 duck eggs. The mom duck was a Muscovy duck, the neighbor who had them in her yard said it probably happened early morning (I found them later in the morning). This is my first time attempting to incubate eggs and I tried to do the candle test but have no idea if the eggs are viable or not. Also not sure if there are two sets of eggs that were laid or just one. The neighbor said she thinks they are about 3 weeks old. Please any help would be appreciated!

 

[LaurenRitz]

My guess would be that she has continued to lay eggs even as she was sitting, but in any case you have at least 2 sets of eggs.

You've got some quitters in there. 1, 4, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17, and 19 might be quitters. It looks like 17 might be cracked?

I'd watch them for another few days and see if they change. It is possible they were laid recently and haven't started to develop yet. Unlikely, but possible.

2, 5, 6, 7 and 12 are at about the same level. I haven't done ducks, so I don't know how long they have, but they're the closest to hatch.

3, 8, 13, 14, 16 and 18 are your questionable ones. Do you see movement? Several of them are probably quitters. I would guess 13, 14 and 16 at least, based on the way the embryo is hugging one side of the shell. But again, if you see movement, don't discard the egg. 8 definitely looks alive just based on the veins.

 

[Duck eggs 2023]

My guess would be that she has continued to lay eggs even as she was sitting, but in any case you have at least 2 sets of eggs.

You've got some quitters in there. 1, 4, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17, and 19 might be quitters. It looks like 17 might be cracked?

I'd watch them for another few days and see if they change. It is possible they were laid recently and haven't started to develop yet. Unlikely, but possible.

2, 5, 6, 7 and 12 are at about the same level. I haven't done ducks, so I don't know how long they have, but they're the closest to hatch.

3, 8, 13, 14, 16 and 18 are your questionable ones. Do you see movement? Several of them are probably quitters. I would guess 13, 14 and 16 at least, based on the way the embryo is hugging one side of the shell. But again, if you see movement, don't discard the egg. 8 definitely looks alive just based on the veins.

Thank you so so much for the reply Lauren!! I’m new to this whole thing so I only labeled the photos and not the eggs themselves for reference of the post! I’m going to candle them again tomorrow and label them properly on the shells to make it easier to refer to. I will take updated photos, there were a few that I think had movement but they were the farther along ones. Again thank you so much for the direction!

 

[ljmastercraft]

Hi - I'm in the same situation you are, but about 3 weeks behind you. Has anything happened with yours?

 

[Duck eggs 2023]

Hi - I'm in the same situation you are, but about 3 weeks behind you. Has anything happened with yours?

Hi yes! We successfully had 4 babies hatch. First thing I’d do is label the eggs and start a chart to make updates on. We didn’t know how far along they were so we candled them a few times till they started filling up most of the eggs. There were a bunch that did not form anything. Keeping the humidity I think was one of the most important parts. We unfortunately had about 3 try to hatch and couldn’t make it out. Let me know if you have any questions or need help! It was my first time saving duck eggs but I may be able offer some advice or insight of what we went through with ours!