duck eggs dead?

[floppysquirrel04]

Hello! I hope you can help me, I've been watching my broody mama duck for almost a month now, and she has been faithfully sitting on all her fertile eggs. However, close to the end, she stopped sitting on them. I continued to monitor her for almost 48 hours, but she seemed done with her eggs. So close too, it was around day 27 when I "adopted" them in the hopes some would hatch. Well, that was about 2 days ago now. I put them over a heat mat and under a heat lamp, and the kept a constant temp of 97-100f. I also kept a warm wet rag in with them to retain humidity. 4 of the 8 looked close to pipping, but I could only tell that by candling them, because they never moved or peeped. They passed the float test, and I sprayed them with warm water about twice a day, but still nothing happened. This morning I opened those 4 up carefully, but the were already dead, fully formed, with their beaks about to come through the membrane. So close! I figured if mama had sat on them another 24 house they would start externally pipping. I threw all the known dead ones out, and I'm left with 4 more that are maybe a week or so younger then the other ones. I can see no movement in the shell, but I can't see any "ring of death" around them and they're not sloshy. I can see veins in the egg, even if it doesn't show in the picture. Are they still alive, or should I throw them out too? Sorry for the bad quality of the picture.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I would not open them up till the due date has passed but I am not a duck expert .... let's call one or two... @WVduckchick
@casportpony

 

[BigBlueHen53]

How long were the eggs abandoned before you adopted them? Were they still warm to the touch when you put them on the heat mat?

 

[floppysquirrel04]

I only opened those ones up when I was sure they were dead when it was passed their hatch date. The eggs were abandoned for 30-48 hours before I took them in, but I'm not sure exactly. No they were not still warm, but they weren't cold either.

 

[ronott1]

It would be fairly hard for this setup to work as an incubator.

A low cost incubator from a feed store would have a better chance. Most 4-H clubs will let you borrow or rent an incubator

Like was posted, keep incubating them until they are either dead or a long way past the due date. Opening up an hatching egg that has veins is not a good idea

 

[floppysquirrel04]

I wasn't planning on opening up the ones I have for a while, like I said, the ones I did open up were days past their hatch date and I knew they were dead already. 3 of the 4 had a death ring starting to form and the other one was getting blue splotches. I would not have opened them if I knew there was a chance they were still alive, and I will not be opening these next 4 up until they are getting rings and I know 100% they are dead. As for the incubator, I am hoping to stop by a friend who raises poultry's house and borrow her incubator today.

 

[WVduckchick]

The one pictured looks like it still may have a few days to go, but it still looks possibly viable. This late in the game, you probably won’t see a blood ring, you will just see a lot of clear space between the dark area of the body and the edge of the air cell, if it dies. The veins will collapse and seem to disappear when you candle.

Please don’t float them in water anymore, nor spray water on them. They need to be dry so the duckling can make a crisp zip when the time comes.

Also, a day or two (or even three) before they hatch, the air cell will draw down and push more into the fat end of the egg. This is the duckling getting into hatching position. That’s the next thing you need to watch for. It should look like this when candled.

 

[floppysquirrel04]

Thanks so much! I will stop spraying, and my friend is dropping off her incubator with in the hour hopefully. I'll keep you posted! Also, should I be turning them still? How many times a day if I should, and when should I stop?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm sorry about the two you lost, but wish you luck on the remaining ones!

 

[floppysquirrel04]

Its ok. It was 4 out of 8 I lost, but Im hoping to have better luck with the other 4!
They just got put in an real incubator too, so we'll see what happens!