Call duck hatching questions...

[AngeJD]

Hi all, first post but have been devouring the information found here for a while. I have a matched pair of call ducks, and the hen started laying 2 weeks ago.

I totally understand that I should have more hens per drake, but I'm living in a large city where our ducks are kind of illegal (chickens are fine for some reason) so I keep them in a large rabbit hutch indoors and they roam and have a kiddy pool in the backyard during the day. We had no clue we had a matched pair (how we ended up with these is another story, suffice it to say, we fostered these and the farmer told me I bought them when I tried to take them back to the farm last year!)

Anyway, since schools were shut down for a while, I figured it would be a good educational lesson to incubate some (and luckily I've located a small hobby farm not too far who will give any ducks a good home!)

I'm clueless, and didn't do much research, and so I collected 6 eggs and stored them in my basement (the rest we ate, she's laying about one every day or two). Set them in my little incubator I got from Amazon, and just candled them after 6 days. 4 are obviously fertile and have veining and I've marked the air sac, while 2 are clear so probably duds?

My question is...how are some eggs fertile or not fertile when they're from the same hen? Also, should i give the 2 "duds" some more time before chucking them? I've marked the days they were laid on them in pencil and the two "duds" were the last two laid.

Any help would be appreciated...I've heard call duck eggs are notoriously difficult to hatch, and I can use any advice you've got!

Thanks!

 

[sourland]

Not certain while the last two would be infertile, but sometimes it just happens - or they may be late starters on development. I'd give them another 4 days before tossing. Good luck for a successful hatch.

 

[AngeJD]

Not certain while the last two would be infertile, but sometimes it just happens - or they may be late starters on development. I'd give them another 4 days before tossing. Good luck for a successful hatch.

Thanks for the reply! Just for reference, these were all set on March 29, so it's been 6 days. Here's what I see with the 6, I guess it's pretty clear which ones I'm asking about lol. Still give it another 4 days? (The darker egg was a bit dirty, but I didn't clean it because I was worried about washing off the bloom, and it wasn't very dirty).

 

[sourland]

It does look as if two are not viable.

 

[AngeJD]

Excuse a noob question, but does the day you set the eggs count as day 1, or 24 hours after that time that counts as day 1? I'm trying to figure out my lockdown date. These eggs were set on March 29, so depending on which is day 1, I'm either on day 14 or day 15? Can anyone please advise if my lockdown should be April 21, with an expected hatch date of April 24?

I did candle the eggs today, and I think they're doing well? I'm still trying to figure out where my air sacs are supposed to be at, and stupidly did not weigh my eggs before I set them!