what to do about my ducks eggs/

[Naturelady]

My ducks have been laying eggs for a few months now and I have some one interested in them. I hold them to the light and there is nothing, so ok. My concern is she has been hiding them lately. This morning I found 6. Usually there is only 1 or 2. ( I have 2 females). I held them to the light and there is no life in them but my question is how long is it between laying the egg and noticing there is life. I don't want to just leave eggs to rot. I do have 1 boy by the way, and they are Peking ducks. I live in Michigan and it is going to be getting cold soon and I don't think I should have ducklings in the cold weather.
Thanks

 

[KARy408]

If you don't want ducklings, why leave any eggs in the nest at all? Remove all the eggs you can find every morning and they will all be edible, wether fertilized or not, and your Pekins will not likely go broody at all.
I believe the only way to really tell of an egg has been fertilized that early on is to crack it open. Locate the white dot in the yoke and if there is a red-ish, "Bullseye" coloration around it then you have a fertilized egg.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

My ducks have been laying eggs for a few months now and I have some one interested in them. I hold them to the light and there is nothing, so ok. My concern is she has been hiding them lately. This morning I found 6. Usually there is only 1 or 2. ( I have 2 females). I held them to the light and there is no life in them but my question is how long is it between laying the egg and noticing there is life. I don't want to just leave eggs to rot. I do have 1 boy by the way, and they are Peking ducks. I live in Michigan and it is going to be getting cold soon and I don't think I should have ducklings in the cold weather.
Thanks

It's not too hard to tell as early as day 5-6, and I know some people who are more experienced can tell even earlier than that. I wouldn't be comfortable eating or distributing eggs that had been setting outside that long. I agree with Kary that you should remove them every morning unless you're trying to have ducklings. This really isn't the best time for ducklings. Even if one of your hens were to starting sitting on the nest soon, you're looking at having hatchlings in mid-October when it will likely already start being pretty chilly outside. If you want ducklings at some point, you'd really be better off waiting until next spring when it's warming up.

 

[freeducks]

An unfertilized egg, when candled, is totally clear. A fertilized egg early on will be cloudy looking. By day 5-6 at least, you should see veins forming and it is a good, developing egg. If clear and they sink when placed in a bowl of water then they are fine to eat. If they float, dispose of them!!!