Help! I don’t know how old my eggs are!

[X3Jack930]

I noticed a mallard duck in my front yard garden over a period of almost a week and found her nest. About 2:30 AM on 04-06-2020, Mama Duck was taken by a fox- it was COLD & raining, so I scooped up the eggs, googled how to hatch without a “broody duck”, made a cardboard box bator (tin foiled sides, an old desk lamp- 60W bulb, egg carton padded bottom and a folded towel on top of padding) and researched how to hatch duck eggs. This is my first time EVER making a bator, finding eggs, trying to hatch them, etc., etc., etc.. It is now exactly day 14 (2 weeks) that I have kept my babies alive. They sit on the towel covered egg carton padding, narrow egg side pointed down. The temperature ranges from 98-102 but I check it every 1-3 hours. I do not have a device to detect humidity (I know, I know.. I should, but this was last minute and I don’t intend on doing it again, which is why I didn’t buy a real bator either) I turn them 180* 4-5 times a day, spray them with 100* water once a day (during this time I add water to bowl, add water to a sanitary pad I added for additional humidity and mist all 4 sides of my bator) this then cools my eggs which I consider similar to mama duck getting off the nest to eat, bath, etc., allowing them a brief cooling period. (Am I thinking correctly here?) I candle my babies every single night for movement- ALL 10 of them “dance” and move when the light hits the egg and sometimes I can’t help but do it during the day! So this morning my babies are all still going strong- but I cannot for the life of me figure out how old they are comparing to the duck candle egg chart (this chart is great for embryo size, but not air cell size). So looking at the candle egg chart I feel like they are 18-22 days old. Looking at airway cell sketches I feel they are 18-24 days old. I know hatch is 28 days. My concern is that humidity needs to be ramped up, turning needs to stop and “lockdown” needs to happen three days before hatch! Can anyone give me advice on how to figure out the exact age of my eggs? I already read up on assisted hatches, found a great thread, just incase of “shrink wrap”, pipping at wrong side of egg, pipping internally but not externally within 24 hours, etc., but I’m scared I made it this far that if I don’t stop turning or ramp my humidity the 3 days prior to hatch that I could lose my babies and all of my hard work!
Any advice on figuring out their exact age or what I should do since I don’t know their exact age while approaching hatch would be amazing!!
Thank you in advance!!!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

If you can post some pictures we (duck people) might be able to tell you approximately what day you are on.

 

[X3Jack930]

Okay great!! I will post around noon! My phone flashlight works better than the others I have, but I need the phone to take the pictures, so I will have access to a second phone about noon!

In the meantime, is there anything I should/could be doing differently?

Thank you for getting back to me!

 

[dougieee]

i personally dont think turning is ultra important after the first two weeks as the embreyo can move on its own so i would err on the side of caution wwhen stopping turning, its more important that they have time to position for hatch than it is they are turned in the final few days to lockdown.
Once the egg space is completely dark apart from air sack then i would deffo stop turning.

 

[X3Jack930]

If you can post some pictures we (duck people) might be able to tell you approximately what day you are on.

I will post photos at noon- when I have access to another phone to use cameraflashlight for pictures/candling.

Is this correct for the first few weeks of their lives? Pictured is Duck Starter Grower, Chick Grit, 1qt. Water bowl, 1qt. Food bowl, and aspen pet bedding. Do I need anything more (besides the brooder)? How long do I feed the duck starter (should I add anything to it) until they get regular duck feed?

Thank you so much for all of your help!

 

[X3Jack930]

i personally dont think turning is ultra important after the first two weeks as the embreyo can move on its own so i would err on the side of caution wwhen stopping turning, its more important that they have time to position for hatch than it is they are turned in the final few days to lockdown.
Once the egg space is completely dark apart from air sack then i would deffo stop turning.

I will post pictures of candling at noon- from my perspective, when I candle (aside from the space taken up from the air sac) there is only about 1/4” worth of space that is veins/membrane/fluid, etc., below the air sac at its highest point, at the lowest point, it’s probably about 1/2”. I can still see movement within 1/4”-1/2” space when candling. The rest of the egg is the duck. I can’t get over how quickly they grow in 2 weeks!!! Two weeks ago I could see through the entire egg (veins, the embryo in the middle, etc.)

Thank you for your reply!

 

[X3Jack930]

I will post pictures of candling at noon- from my perspective, when I candle (aside from the space taken up from the air sac) there is only about 1/4” worth of space that is veins/membrane/fluid, etc., below the air sac at its highest point, at the lowest point, it’s probably about 1/2”. I can still see movement within 1/4”-1/2” space when candling. The rest of the egg is the duck. I can’t get over how quickly they grow in 2 weeks!!! Two weeks ago I could see through the entire egg (veins, the embryo in the middle, etc.)

Thank you for your reply!

I believe I got some good ones between (2) different eggs out of the 10 I have. I took some for air sac size and some for the actual candling inside the egg, so hopefully this helps!

 

[X3Jack930]

If you can post some pictures we (duck people) might be able to tell you approximately what day you are on.

I posted pictures of them being candled. I will try and get better ones. Thank you for taking time out of your day to respond to me

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

My guess would be around day 19.

 

[X3Jack930]

My guess would be around day 19.

I was thinking between 18&22!! So I’m good with 19!! Thank you!