Indian runner duck having no success hatching babies to term. Late term deaths. 0% survived. Why? Could it be storms and weird weather patterns?

[ElmienGrove]

Hi All!

My poor runner has been sitting dutifully on her nest for 28 days. She started with 10 eggs and when we checked on day 26 there were 5 and a terrible smell.

I candled them and one was completely opaque. I did an eggtopsy and it was far along but rotten. The other eggs looked like they might be pushing against the inner membranes but there was no movement or sounds so I put them back but felt ill at ease.

Today 1 exploded under her so I decided to candle again and possibly make safety holes. On candling no movement, lots of blotches and outside bruising. Ended up making safety holes and all were rotten but seemed at full term. The yolks were no yet fully absorbed and had gone bad and broken up but the egg teeth were there so I figure they were ready to hatch. They seemed shrink wrapped. Is this possible without an external pip and under mother duck, even? And why? We have had strange weather, hot then cold and hectic storms.

Also; if you open a live egg, you'll see movement right? I am terrified of opening and then accidentally killing a duckling and they all looked so perfect but was totally limp, there was no blood and they smelled so they were obviously dead...right?

How can I help this poor duck?

It was her second nest, the first one we stole her eggs and tried incubation but they also all died.

 

[BantyChooks]

Also; if you open a live egg, you'll see movement right? I am terrified of opening and then accidentally killing a duckling and they all looked so perfect but was totally limp, there was no blood and they smelled so they were obviously dead...right?

Yes, the photos you have showed look like they have been dead for a while. You mentioned having a bad smell on day 26 - if you had one egg go bad and explode or leak, it could easily have caused an infection in the other eggs that killed them. When I have broodies, I typically candle a few times and pull quitters. Some hens are smart enough to kick out dead eggs. Others aren't.

I personally think shrink wrapping is unlikely. Dead eggs usually have the membrane dried on to some extent but that doesn't mean it was what killed them, especially without an external pip.

 

[Jjynx]

Was she nesting in a dry area?

 

[ElmienGrove]

Was she nesting in a dry area?

I doubt it kept dry during the torrential rains we had on and off. It was in the veggie patch, she made a huge beautiful nest but no I doubt it stayed dry.

 

[Jjynx]

I think a similar thing happened to my chicken where her eggs stayed too damp and because of that I think they didn’t lose the air they were supposed to and they “drown” in the shell. Them being damp for awhile also could have let an infection in as the other poster mentioned.

 

[ElmienGrove]

I think a similar thing happened to my chicken where her eggs stayed too damp and because of that I think they didn’t lose the air they were supposed to and they “drown” in the shell. Them being damp for awhile also could have let an infection in as the other poster mentioned.

I think you're right, the air cells looked too small.