Oh dear, all my duck eggs candled clear! :(

[love_a_duck]

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me too chickensioux.

 

[awesomefowl]

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oh! cool! I do know where it is, when we lived in LI our dentist was in shirley!

 

[goosedragon]

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We really need a sarcasm smiley on here. Goosedragon has lots of experience with waterfowl and their eggs.

While I certainly agree with the need for sarcasm symbol and that I would use it often (my favorite form of humor) in this case I was NOT kiding! True I have lots of experience with waterfowl and selling their eggs, and moderate experience eating waterfowl eggs. I have never owned an incubator, and have never noticed a fertility disk in my frypan. I am glad some found my ignorance amusing but it was not put on. The comment that the presence of a fertility disk is not dependable has led me to decide to give up the selling of eggs for balut. The money was good at $1 per egg but the hassle of refunds and thinking about customers eating balut just turns me off it is like selling ducklings to be eaten.~gd

katharinad
Blood vessels should be visible around day 4. If you don't see anything by day 7 then they are no good at all. At that point you should open them and check for the fertility disk. If you don't see one then you should confront the seller and request a refund including shipping. The seller needs to learn when eggs are fertile etc and to check for it. They do not need an incubator for that, simply crack the egg and look. You just see a lot of sellers on ebay that don't know what they are doing. I hate it when they blame the shipping carrier and who know what else. The fertility disk is a clear indicator that they left the nest fertile or unfertile. I also find it crazy that sellers get good feed back simply for shipping and not the product. Shipping does only some damage, but not to the point that they are all bad. You should expect a 30% or better hatch rate. Anything under 30% points to other issues. Did you know that vitamin and mineral deficiencies cause poor hatching rates? I have never seen a single seller stating that their ducks are on a better diet or supplements for the absolutely best egg production possible. Very frustrating. Always ask if they provide supplements on their laying hens. Then you get mixed eggs with all kind of sizes including double yolkers, which is another no no. Best is to order in spring, but wait at least 2-3 weeks before you order, because that is the time frame ducks need to get back into swing. This of course varies with some breeds. I hope my rant gives you a little bit more information and what to look for.

I sell quite a few eggs and I would never base their fertility on the "disk". People are going to see what they want to see in their eggs and certainly most people don't have the experience to know what they are or aren't seeing. That is the reason I only sell while I am hatching eggs here at home.

A hatch rate of under 30% can be the result of shipping with nothing else to blame. Nothing is certain from shipped eggs .....shipped eggs are a crap shoot under the best of circumstances.​

 

[katharinad]

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I think you gave them an insurance policy for possibly not incubating the eggs correctly. You have no control over their incubation practices and yet they hold you responsible. In nature not all egg are fertile so they have to deal with this. Perhaps you should consider getting a cheap incubator for that purpose. At the same time I find it heartbreaking to get some life going only to give it away knowing it will be eaten. On the other hand we do eat chicken etc. It may work for you, if you can distant yourself from knowing what is happening. Not everyone can do this. Best is to sell the eggs as is and the Asians can do what they want with the eggs. No more refunds on infertile claims. I bet they will still buy the eggs regardless. You can consider selling them for 90 cents each without any fertility warranties.