- Sep 23, 2014
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Okay, let me try again. A fertilized peafowl egg will not have a red spot or red fleck from fertilization. Lack of a red spot does not mean the egg was not fertilized. Instead, if you crack one open, expect to find (if you look very carefully -- can be very hard to see -- a white fleck with a white ring around it. I thought @Birdrain92 had some photos of eggs broken open into a bowl that showed the fleck of white and ring around it in the yolk, but maybe it was someone else? I know there were pictures up on the forum awhile back -- perhaps someone could post or you could find them with searching the threads.
At 10 days in the incubator, what you are looking for is not a dark spot. If the eggs are developing, you should see a spiderweb of reddish (or just dark) veins radiating out from where the chick embryo attached. The inside of the shell rapidly darkens as the chick develops. Soon, the entire inside of the shell (except for the air sac) should be so dark that you cannot see through it. The air sac should gradually increase in size -- some people find it helpful to mark a pencil line on the outside of the shell where the air sac ends, and periodically mark a new line as the air sac gets bigger. That helps you know whether the egg is losing the correct amount of moisture during the incubation process. If the inside of the shell does not darken completely (except for the air sac, which stays clear), then the egg is not developing normally -- it maybe a "quitter" -- and it should be thrown out.
In a newly-laid egg, when you candle, you will see a dark mass floating in the egg -- that is the yolk, and it should always be present. If the egg never progresses -- if that dark mass floating in the egg is all you can still see in 10 days or 2 weeks and there is not change, and no spiderweb of veins, or no darkening of the shell (again, the air sac will always be clear), then the egg should be pitched. It is a "clear" and either was not fertilized OR had some other problem, such as an early bacterial contamination, ruptured air sac, poor quality or other issue from the hen, rough handling, freezing, over-heating, waiting too long to be set, improper holding conditions, or some other issue. There are MANY causes of egg failure besides lack of fertilization.
Right now, I am sitting on an incubator full of duds, I think, even though I have live chicks in the brooder from the hen that laid these eggs. Things can change over the course of the season. This hen is young, and laid quite a few infertile eggs. Then some developed and made it to hatching. Now, it appears maybe the eggs are not fertile again. It could be that she has successfully avoided the male long enough to not have fertilized eggs at this point, or it could be that her youth is somehow resulting in less viable eggs -- I can't tell. I may crack a few before I throw them out. Or, I could have bacterial contamination in the incubator again -- I had a huge problem with that last summer. An incubator is the perfect breeding spot for bacteria, so regular decontamination is critically important. It looks like I have a couple of late-stage quitters in there, which makes me suspect it's bacteria again. 28 days is a very long time, particularly in a humid environment. If running the incubator for more than one hatching cycle, it is necessary to do interim cleanings -- I moved all my eggs to the hatcher (after disinfecting it) and then disinfected the incubator, before moving the eggs back. But I'm to the point of being due to do it again, and I may have waited too long. I cannot stress strongly enough the absolute necessity of hygiene and disinfection. Think of the water in the bottom of the incubator as toxic waste -- don't let it touch or splash on the eggs.
Peafowl eggs are significantly harder to hatch than chicken eggs. I can't compare to ducks -- I've never tried to hatch those. Again, I would be worried about contamination and cross-contamination. I disinfect my eggs before setting them, which has helped my hatch rate significantly. I also use an automatic turner in addition to manual turning, and I disinfect my hands before handling the eggs. I believe the eggs may have some resistance to the germs that come from the hen, but they aren't necessarily going to have any defense against germs that come from me, or germs that come from ducks.
Conditions in the incubator are also significant, though I am not certain whether that is what caused the problem here. I would suggest that you use a known good thermometer to check your incubator at various locations inside it, and at various times of the day and room temperatures. If there are temperature spikes or temperature dips, the eggs can fail to properly develop.
Finally, if I were you, I would check back with the person who sold you the eggs, and mention what happened. Now, without more information, I don't think you can say that the eggs weren't fertilized for sure, and even if they weren't, there's no guarantee that she would have known. I had no reason to suspect that these latest eggs from my two year-old hen were infertile, particularly since there are live chicks from some of her eggs in the brooder. Again, things can change over the course of the season.
Hope this helps.
