Sad question - how to tell if eggs are alive or dead?

[Nina8515]

I have seen the alive chart and some examples of bad eggs, but I just can't make the call if these duckies in their eggs are alive or dead. They suffered a lot of cold then a lot of hot (I found them outside near the dead mother). When candled they were grown enough to fill the egg where it was all black except for the air pocket. So they are/were far along. I tried the water trick but didn't see any noticeable movement. How do I know if they're alive or not? Note: when they got too hot the shells went from off white to pretty solid gray to the point where you can see where the air pocket is on most of them)

 

[Orca5094]

Can you post pics of the eggs? If they are turning dark they may have died and are going bad. Do they smell at all if you sniff them?

It's very hard to see movement when they are near the end of incubation, sometimes you'll just see a tiny bit of movement up near the air cell.

 

[Nina8515]

 

[Nina8515]

 

[Nina8515]

Struggled to upload those Those are 2 of the twelve. Are those veins? I'm just at a loss.

 

[Orca5094]

Those could be vessels, yes. Hard to tell for sure if they're ok, though. Did you see any movement at the edge of the big dark mass at all? Can you take a pic of the outside of the eggs (not candling, just so I can see the shells where you said they have turned a darker color).

 

[Nina8515]

Now:

 

[hlpulrn]

I am no expert but when I have incubated eggs, that is what they look like when the embryo has died inside the egg. You also should see movement near the air sac as the embryo is moving in the egg.

 

[Nina8515]

All of them?

 

[Orca5094]

I agree, it looks as though all have died and eggs have gone bad. :/