Help with eggs--Possibility of hatching or no?

[pdsavage]

Those are bad eggs....

 

[Cuppycake243]

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It had been relatively warm where I am until the day before I took in the eggs. It got chilly and rainy but not cold enough to actually freeze the eggs, even at night.

 

[Cuppycake243]

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Good luck with your eggs! I did notice that when I removed the almost definitely dead eggs from the nest, the strong stink went away. I wish I had pictures from when I first took these four in, because in a couple of the eggs it does seem like the babies inside have grown. Maybe it's just hopeful imagining, but who knows? Maybe they really are growing. What I remember from the candling that I afterwards decided to take them in is that I could see the fetus, but there was some space next to it in all of them. On a couple the eggs now look full of duckling. I really should have taken pix then, but I was totally stressing out about the nest in general and the horse show this past weekend and I didn't think to. Then again, who knew I'd have to go looking for answers on some strange shadowing?

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

Well, keep us updated on what happened with your eggs.

What kind of horse show? I used to show Arabians. Still own them, but haven't shown in a while.

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

Hmmm found this pic of eggs that look quite similar to ours and t hey are hatching:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebouche/1810720172/

Checked my eggs again today and more of the surface area is dark blueish/shadowy now. Candled, and I can see nothing except the air sac, the rest is dark. I am not going to pitch them until they start weeping or smelling. Momma duck is still on them too, so I say there's hope!

 

[Cuppycake243]

I actually contacted the local nature center and someone there put me in touch with the manager of the birds of our zoo. She said the eggs were most likely not going to hatch, however, she seemed to have heard the story wrong, stating that they "probably never developed since the female abandoned the nest so early." This is entirely wrong, of course, since I can see the fetus in the eggs when candled and she had sat on the eggs for several weeks. I know because I clean the pool by myself and I actually accidentally scared her off her nest a few times trying to get some pix

My best guess is, if any of the eggs don't hatch within a week or so, they are dead. Eggs can hatch up to 30-ish days from when they were laid, right? The eggs were laid sometime at the beginning of the month, maybe even the very end of March.
The shadows have spread a bit. I'm going to continue to incubate them since from what I can tell the babies inside at least a few of them appear to have grown and filled the space of the egg. Especially Egg 1, if you look at the image I posted. I clearly remember there being space around the fetuses when I took the eggs. Now the space seems filled in all but the egg I marked 3, which may have never been properly heated or it may have been a dead one when I got it. I did note that the eggs did not smell. Except one, which I moved away from the other three but am trying to keep it warm as well in case it is just something nasty on the outside of it causing the smell, since previously the smell was only on one area of the shell… I'm going to do the same thing as you. As long as they don't weep and smell, I'm going to keep them for a while longer. If they weren't hanging on to life when I rescued them, then why would they have grown? That's just my thinking though. And so far, the one with the original shadowing doesn't smell. And Egg 3, like I mentioned earlier, has no shadowing and has not grown as far as I can tell. Maybe it's just an odd occurrence in these Mallard eggs?
I don't know much about this, but I am trying my best. My friend got a duckling for Easter, a Cayuga we believe, and I want to see at least one of these eggs hatch and grow up to be as adorable as Walter. I probably won't keep any that hatch, I'll probably look for a rehabber to raise what hatches if any do. I'm truly praying at least one does. If they don't, they're swimming with their dead siblings in heavenly ponds.

On a side note, I show hunter/jumpers. Pretty much hunters, though I have done a jumper class on my hunter to get her over those very different-looking jumps. When the big national Arab show came to our fairgrounds, the barn we were at housed several Arab show horses worth big bucks, including a stallion named Valentino, who is worth several million. But we weren't allowed near him or some of the others

 

[Cuppycake243]

Alright, I can almost definitely confirm this: The shadowing I saw on the eggs is more like translucency. Shining a light through the egg, I can see the normal whiteness of the egg out of place on the shell. In fact, on one egg, the translucency has spread in such a way that there is a normal shell patch that, when light is shining through the egg, looks remarkably like a duck head. So now the translucency doesn't look so dark in some areas, it looks slightly yellowish-brown underneath there. Now I'm very curious to know what this might mean...

 

[Miss Lydia]

can you do the float test on duck eggs like you can on chicken eggs, I'd think you can. heres the link.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=383525

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

Hunter/Jumper, how fun! Always thought jumping would be a blast! I always showed English Pleasure, Native Costume and Halter. How lucky you are to have had Valentino there! If it's the same famous Valentino I am thinking of, he is a STUNNER!

I wish I could tell you more about your eggs. I am still in the same boat as you though! My eggs are almost completely shadowed now, except for the air sacs. I have heard this could just be duckling I am seeing through the egg. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for us both.

If your eggs don't work out, you could always go buy some ducklings! Sounds like you'd be a great ducky mom!

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

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I so did not know you could do this. I know you can to tell if unfertilized eggs are spoiled or good, but never knew it could be applied to hatching eggs!
I am too afraid to bother Izzy's eggs anymore, because it irritates her, and I don't want to keep messing with the eggs. Today is just now day 28 for mine, so I will give them more time.

However, the OP should DEFINITELY try this, as she has nothing to lose, and no mama duck to contend with. Would love to hear the results!