The Duck Thread

[sryglet]

I'm back!

Today is day 14 of incubation of our single egg. I've decided to give up on candling because I have no idea what I'm doing. Haha.
I candled the egg for what I decided would be the last time today. We never got an LED flashlight and I've been using a flashlight on my phone. I'm actually liking the idea of it being a surprise - either the egg will begin to smell or ooze or we will end up with a duckling a little over a week from now!
It certainly doesn't look like an infertile egg - the air cell seems to be on track, and the egg itself has a very large dark spot, and the rest shines through red, not yellow, now. The dark spot seems to be more on one side of the egg and extends from the top (air cell) to the bottom (smaller point) of the egg. The egg has become noticeably lighter over the last few days, and doesn't smell at all (I actually held it up to my nose and breathed deeply... lol).
Any thoughts on this? When should it start to smell if it's infertile?

 

[Pyxis]

I'm back! 

Today is day 14 of incubation of our single egg. I've decided to give up on candling because I have no idea what I'm doing. Haha. 
I candled the egg for what I decided would be the last time today. We never got an LED flashlight and I've been using a flashlight on my phone. I'm actually liking the idea of it being a surprise - either the egg will begin to smell or ooze or we will end up with a duckling a little over a week from now! 
It certainly doesn't look like an infertile egg - the air cell seems to be on track, and the egg itself has a very large dark spot, and the rest shines through red, not yellow, now. The dark spot seems to be more on one side of the egg and extends from the top (air cell) to the bottom (smaller point) of the egg. The egg has become noticeably lighter over the last few days, and doesn't smell at all (I actually held it up to my nose and breathed deeply... lol). 
Any thoughts on this? When should it start to smell if it's infertile? 

It might actually never smell if it's infertile. I've had some broodies sit on infertile eggs and I never knew until they didn't hatch. If today's day 14 for you, you have exactly two more weeks to go before possible duckling Good luck!

 

[chickmomma03]

Quote: My thought. Get an led flashlight. You'll want to be able to really see this experience. Plus you need to be able to see details like veining, growth progress, and whether or not there are any issues inside the egg. I incubated one all the way through, and unfortunately day of hatch duckling couldn't pip and drown. Unfortunately, I lost little Duckie, and it was heartbreaking. I had candled that morning and should have broken it open. It was my first time ever incubating, and I am still kicking myself for it. These are some random ones from the stages of our incubation. My son and I were doing this as a science experiment, but Duckie would have had a loving home.

 

[Blue Godz]

I'm not sure when it would smell if its not fertile, but i found this chart that might help you. Does your egg look like the day 14 egg?

I candle mine with the phone, the standard flashlight app in phones is actually much brighter than regular flashlight cause it uses the bulb and light intensity of the camera's flash, so you should be able to see through the eggs just fine with it

 

[sryglet]

I'm not sure when it would smell if its not fertile, but i found this chart that might help you. Does your egg look like the day 14 egg?

I candle mine with the phone, the standard flashlight app in phones is actually much brighter than regular flashlight cause it uses the bulb and light intensity of the camera's flash, so you should be able to see through the eggs just fine with it

Well the problem is that the flashlight on my phone isn't anywhere near bright enough to see through the egg. I also think a huge part of the problem is that the flashlight is extremely small. All I can see is red light and a big blob. I see what might be veins but it's not bright enough to tell.

 

[Lynn Manes]

I don't to worry you, but are you sure there isn't something else wrong? I can't remember any of our ducks or drakes ever being more vocal while they were molting. Is this one a Call or another breed?

I read somewhere that molting is painful for fowl. Maybe & especially if this is Rocky's first molt, it's just making her terribly uncomfortable. Unfortunately, I can't offer any advise to help sooth her

 

[Lynn Manes]

my babies on there pond it use to be mine but not anymore lol

Nice ducks. Lovely setting Welcome here. You'll love this group!

 

[Lynn Manes]

New pond is up

Congratulations. I see the ducks are already enjoying it

 

[Blue Godz]

Well the problem is that the flashlight on my phone isn't anywhere near bright enough to see through the egg. I also think a huge part of the problem is that the flashlight is extremely small. All I can see is red light and a big blob. I see what might be veins but it's not bright enough to tell. 

That's really odd. What kind of phone is it? Maybe the flaslight app it comes with stays a bit dim to preserve battery? It should use the camera flash led, which has a lumen capacity higher than most flashlights and is just about 3milimeters square. The smaller the better actually cause photons are concentrated in a cannon that way.
You can download a torch flashlight which will use the full capacity of the led.

 

[Lynn Manes]

I found my first duck egg this morning!  Actually my first 2 eggs.  I didn't really expect her to lay this year, so I hadn't paid as much attention.  But when I went out this morning, there was an egg, so I looked around and found another!  Have to be from yesterday and the day before.  One was half hidden, so I understand why I missed it. 

Yeah, my girl is laying!!!  e

Congratulations! After patiently waiting,I have now figured out the gender of our 3 young ducks-1 female who started laying 6 days ago & 2 boys. I'm thrilled to get a girl, bc my other 2 females haven't been laying for a couple of months now. I noticed the other day that each drake has paired with each female. That would be a sister/brother and a auntie??/nephew of the 3 youngest. Don't really know if my not-the-mama duck is related or not.lol All 3 prs are getting along peachy. My big drake is the parent to my 3 young ones, and they have all been together from day 1 like one big happy family. Do you know if the sister/brother ends up mating if it will cause harm? We only want the eggs,
so not interested in breeding for more babies. As long as they continue to get along together, 6 are all we want right now.