Help!! Muscovy duck eggs turned blacks blue molding

[simonsays123]

I am very new to ducks, hen laided 11 eggs, 34 days ago since last egg laid, then this morning when I went to sprinkle some warm water on the eggs (local farmer told me too) as she laided them in a wooden box up off the ground. There where only 9 eggs, and they have turned from a beige colour to a blueish black in a molding pattern. Are the eggs still alright, she has been sitting on them so we real haven't seen the eggs for the last couple of weeks. And is there anything else I should do for her or the eggs.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Sorry but those eggs have gone bad, so be careful they may explode.
Use a plastic bag to pick them up or you may have to clean up an unforgettable stink.

 

[srsmith69]

If you didn't notice a stink when sprinkling them, they may be fine. If the hen is still setting, let her continue. Egg shells get thin as the embryos pull calcium from the shell for bone growth. You may just be seeing shades of the almost ready to hatch duckling. At 34 days the duckling completely fills the egg and is pushed into direct contact with the shell. If you have dark duckling fuzz pushing up against a thinning shell you may get a blue black appearance to the egg. The sniff test will tell you. No stink means keep the eggs

 

[Caprice_Acres]

When they are visibly bluish green through the shell (usually patchy, too), then they are rotten. They CAN darken a little at the end of incubation. Incubation is 35 days, so you might as well leave them and see. Mine tend to hatch on day 33 or so, however.

If you're really curious, you can candle them.

Don't sprinkle water on them. It's unecessary and water is what allows bacteria to travel through the shell.

The only time I've ever had rotten eggs was the time a broody hen was trying to steal the nest from my duck, and the time that one hen laid a nest under the roosts and the other birds were pooing on them. It is really important that the eggs stay clean during incubation. This means place the food/water for the broody hen AWAY From her eggs, so she has to get off of the nest to go eat/drink and will thus poop away from her nest, too. Also, try to keep other birds from laying in the nest when the duck is off the nest.

 

[simonsays123]

There is a smell around the nest, I figured it was do to the 2 missing eggs. But I will give her till the end of the weekend to see if any hatch. I was told that because she had nested in such a dry spot, in the barn, and we have such cold and low humidity that the sprinkling of water would soften the shell enough that they could break thru. We are north and west of Toronto, Ontario Canada will our climate have any effect on the little ones. The other thing is how do I prepare the ducks for winter.