Well, as many know my GREAT mamma duck Cocoa has nine ducklings following her around. WHen these ducklings were down hatching she just left four eggs in the nest and look these ducklings to the pond. She never went back to the other four eggs that day so I put them under my broody GLW, thinking they might hatch. Well, after a day one of the duck eggs had cracked. It stayed like that for two days so I thought it just had gotten broke. I decided to take out the egg and open it to see what was inside. Well, there was a baby duck and once I opened the egg it started gasping for air.
I felt terrible.
Now there is still three eggs under my broody and it has been almost a week since I put them there. My chicken eggs under her are about to hatch on the 10th so I didn't still want these duck eggs under her if they were going to be duds. I took all three of the eggs inside to candle them, which obviously don't know much about yet since I killed the last duck. I looked at two and they have a large air cell ( I think, it is a light spot) on the top and the rest of the egg is dark, I can't see threw it. That is how the egg looked that I broke open. Then I looked at the last one and it didn't have that much a a definant line between light and dark areas some spot had a darker area coming out. So I course I turned the eggs and flipped the egg around to see if I could figure it out.
When Cocoa was sitting on the eggs and she left a bad one out of the nest I looked at that one and it had dark spot that would fall around in the egg when you moved it. So I was trying to figure out if this egg was the same way. Then I turned it a certain way and I see it moving like a heart beat! It must be the ducklings beak and feet moving around when I kept turning the egg around.
Once I saw this I ran and put the eggs back under my GLW.
I know that I have read not to mess with the eggs the last 3 or so days since that is when the ducklings/chicks are trying to line themselves up to start comming out. I HOPE I didn't just mess these eggs up. I really didn't think they were going to be good anymore since the other ducklings are about a week old now.
Can someone tell me if I just messed everything up or not?
Now there is still three eggs under my broody and it has been almost a week since I put them there. My chicken eggs under her are about to hatch on the 10th so I didn't still want these duck eggs under her if they were going to be duds. I took all three of the eggs inside to candle them, which obviously don't know much about yet since I killed the last duck. I looked at two and they have a large air cell ( I think, it is a light spot) on the top and the rest of the egg is dark, I can't see threw it. That is how the egg looked that I broke open. Then I looked at the last one and it didn't have that much a a definant line between light and dark areas some spot had a darker area coming out. So I course I turned the eggs and flipped the egg around to see if I could figure it out.
I know that I have read not to mess with the eggs the last 3 or so days since that is when the ducklings/chicks are trying to line themselves up to start comming out. I HOPE I didn't just mess these eggs up. I really didn't think they were going to be good anymore since the other ducklings are about a week old now.
Can someone tell me if I just messed everything up or not?
Last edited:
