Is this a blood ring?

[nnuc]

Hello all and thanks for this amazing forum!

I’ve been reading many threads in here and also incubating some duck eggs. This is my first time incubating, and I’m quite worried about this egg. The first few days, we turned the eggs horizontally by hand, twice a day. Everything was going great. Then on day 6 an egg turner we ordered arrived, then we put the eggs on, at first vertically, then horizontally. It only rotated 45 degrees side to side (making it 90 degrees I suppose?). The thing about this turner, contrary to its advertisement of automatic rotation every 2 hours, turns the egg all the time. I think the rotation is kind of gentle. The next day, we smelled something unusual. Suddenly on some of the eggs, the embryo that we saw previously as the center of a spider, almost “disappeared” or probably hid deeper into the egg. We saw a circle with something that looks like an air bubble moving in place of the embryo. The egg smells unpleasant, not foul, like normal egg whites. It does seem that today the egg smells worse than yesterday though. Today it seems like the circle is bigger, even though we still see the veins.

Is this the blood ring? Is the egg still alive?

Thank you so much in advance for your guidance!
Best wishes to all,

 

[ExoticPetOwner]

It doesn't look like a blood ring. Usually blood rings are a large, pale red oval. The egg is usually a yellow-ish color, and the egg might start to smell like it's rotting. Do you see any movement? Sometimes when the embryo is first starting to develop, it'll "hide" and look like it's not present, that's normal for them to do. Spider veins that are a nice dark, visible color are a sign that the duckling is developing well. As the egg ages, you'll be able to tell if it's still growing or had passed.
- They should start to look like this first picture: ( My picture )
- An egg with a blood ring will look more like this second picture: ( I took this from the internet )

 

[nnuc]

Thank you so much for your reply! That makes me less worried! This egg’s sisters and brothers all have movements - a black spot that appears and disappears (I guess that’s a heart?). This one I’m not sure. Thanks for letting me know that’s something embryos do Yes, this egg looked like this 2 - 3 days ago. Oh and I forgot to mention I started hatching it on May 3rd, so it’s day 8 today. I’ll be praying from now

 

[ExoticPetOwner]

Thank you so much for your reply! That makes me less worried! This egg’s sisters and brothers all have movements - a black spot that appears and disappears (I guess that’s a heart?). This one I’m not sure. Thanks for letting me know that’s something embryos do Yes, this egg looked like this 2 - 3 days ago. Oh and I forgot to mention I started incubating it on May 3rd, so it’s day 8 today. I’ll be praying from now

The embryo looks like a little dot in the beginning, but it might appear to be a heart or a red blob. Here's a website that gives a good idea of what's going on - CLICK HERE!
I've hatched a lot of ducklings before, and I've been able to see how they were developing by opening and examining the eggs that passed before they were able to hatch. Here's a photo of the ducklings that has passed in their early stages of development:
It's sad to see and I hate when it happens, but it's good to be able to learn how they develop, and it also gives me an idea of what might've gone wrong so I can improve for the future batches.

 

[nnuc]

Thank you so much for the information and for the link. It's really helpful! Great to see how they can directly see the development inside of the eggs.

An update for today: I saw a heart alive a beating last night in that egg. So happy! Let's keep our fingers crossed

Have a great day!