I candled my pekin duck eggs, are they fertile?

StitchMyStars6 · Nov 30, 2013

I looked up the little giant egg turner and it says it cannot fit duck eggs. However, with me manually turning, should I place them in egg cartons inside the incubator upright for better support and development? I do want to try and keep from opening it as much as possible so the process isn't disturbed...

learycow · Nov 30, 2013

What I did before I got an automatic turner is this.
I would roll up a dish cloth and put them in the incubator. I place the eggs so they are pointy end down, but at an angle laying against the rolled up cloth. But you can lay them flat.
I turn an odd # of times a day (I aim for 3, but 5 works too). That way they don't sit on one side a lot longer than the other.

The humidity will fluctuate the most with this. But you can always put a clean, water soaked sponge in there to help keep it up. Or a small bowl of water. I never spray my eggs but I know a lot of people who do. It's different for everyone and the more you practice and play around, the more you will find what works and doesn't work best for you

But yes, putting the eggs in there in groups is the best place to start (in my opinion).
As for the eggs currently in there, candle every egg that's over 7 days. If they are not fertile, toss them. If you leave eggs in there, they can (not always) rot and explode. Trust me, exploded rotten egg smell is TOUGH to get out of the incubator. So not worth the risk of leaving them in there!
Then with the remaining eggs, candle them on day 7 or more and do the same with those. Toss the infertile eggs.

StitchMyStars6 · Nov 30, 2013

Well, I cracked open eggs #2-6, it was time for them to go... They just looked like normal eggs with big yolks..... one however seemed to have the teeny tiniest bit of blood in it. It was super faint. And another had a very tiny whitish dot off to the side of the yolk. I should have taken a picture!

learycow · Nov 30, 2013

Duck eggs have large yolks, so that's normal
The blood is normal too as some will have a blood spec simply from the egg formation inside the duck.
And depending on what it looked like, it sounds like the last egg was fertilized (not necessarily hatchable as not all eggs will develop) but a white dot can indicate sperm

StitchMyStars6 · Dec 2, 2013

This is egg #17 that was laid this morning. I candled it, before placing it safely in a box at room temp, and I noticed this pinkish dot inside.... is this a possible fertile egg or did something happen inside otherwise?

HollyDuckFarmer · Dec 2, 2013

I really don't know! I don't incubate myself, but I do bug my momma ducks when they go broody. I can't see a single thing until she's been sitting one week minimum. After that length of time, you should see vein development.

Lynzi777 · Dec 2, 2013

I have yet to try incubating duck eggs but I came across this thread and was wondering - Can duck eggs be determined fertile the same way chicken eggs can be? By the little white "bullseye" on the yolk? I personally would not be putting any eggs in an incubator without cracking at least one open to see if it was fertile. I made this mistake over the summer with my chicken eggs. They had been fertile in the spring but later in the summer I guess my roo was laying off the hens for a while (he was also going thru a molt) and I placed 12 eggs in the incubator. Well none were fertile and I ended up having to throw them all out. I wish I had cracked at least one open to see before wasting that whole dozen.

Have you cracked any of these duck eggs open to see if that white little bulls eye mark is there? (IF this is a way to tell of course)

StitchMyStars6 · Dec 2, 2013

I'm still pretty new at all of this, myself, so I can't surely say. But that's why BYC is such a great forum spot for poultry owners to share info about it all. Everything isn't always the exact same, so results would vary from owner to owner. I didn't know if my girls would ever lay, at least jot for a good while. But eventually my male got frisky with the ladies (a lot). And I assumed that they'd become fertile, but not always will they be....