Has my egg gone bad? Need advice please

[ejctm]

Hi folks,

I currently have a broody hen sitting on 6 runner duck eggs. No problem with mum - she is a great broody. I noticed today that one of the eggs has a slightly darker area on one half of the shell. When I picked it up, it smelled bad to me, but there is a difference of opinion in my house about the smell - my daughter says it just smells like a cooked egg yolk. When candled today, I can see a dark mass (which I took to be baby and yolk?) and a couple of small dark floating flecks, plus the air sac. Eggs were purchased from a breeder and sent by post. They arrived on 4th June and straight under broody, so are due to hatch 2nd July by my calculations (28 days). When candled on day 10, I could see veins in 4, and was not sure about 2, but it was difficult to see. I candled a good egg today to compare it, and I could just see a dark blob, but also veins and an air sac. My torch is rubbish though!

Has anyone got experience to advise me whether I should hang in there a bit longer, or chuck the egg. I don't want to risk throwing a baby away as I only have the 6 eggs. I expected mummy hen to have kicked it out if it was bad, nature knowing best and all!

Many thanks,

EJ

 

[Bunnylady]

Well, I haven't a ton of experience with duck eggs, but I don't like the sound of this egg at all. IME, dark areas that are visible from the outside are usually something nasty growing just under the shell. There shouldn't be any dark things floating around inside the egg, and it shouldn't smell. If it were mine, I'd pitch it. Broody hens don't always know what they are doing (I just pulled a bad egg out from under one a couple of days ago. That thing was RIPE - I could smell it several feet away!)

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

If the smell you smell is sulfuric, toss it.

 

[ejctm]

I think it does smell a bit rotten, but you know when you smell something repeatedly, you then get used to the smell and think you imagined it in the first place!