When do YOU first candle your duck eggs?

[SundownWaterfowl]

With my calls and mandarins I candle on day 4. I mark the eggs that are questionable and recheck on day 7. My pekins I candle day 6 or 7.

 

[katharinad]

I peek candle on day 4, just to get an idea. At day 7 I sort the ones that are fertile to one side and the rest to the other side. At day 10 I candle the ones that are not fertile the first around. Keep the ones that show sign and toss the rest. At day 14 I re-candle all to find quitters etc to discard. After that no more candling until lock down.
Katharina

 

[CityChicker]

I generally candle the first time about day four and can get a very good guess at that time what is fertile and what is not. Really, it is unnecessary for me to do because I leave the clear eggs in until they are 7-10 days old (and actually, once I establish they are infertile or not developing, I only remove them a few at a time so that I don't really disrupt the temp. of the incubator by taking out so many at once).

Anyway, duck eggs are funny. They are not like other birds. They don't all develop at the same rate. Just look at hatch times. Sometimes they hatch at day 26 and sometimes they wait until even day 31 (and I am talking just about the Mallard-derived breeds). I cannot even begin to tell you how often I candle on day four and there are eggs with very definite development and some that are completely clear and then just a few days later the clears have developed. That happens in literally every decent sized hatch.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

I do have a disclaimer stating about rough handling of the Post Office and just because I get a 90% fertility and hatch rate doesn't mean that you will too.

I really go out of my way to make sure that I send the freshest eggs, box my eggs up the best way possible, immediately take them to the post office, do everything to make sure that I can do whatever possible on MY end to make sure that the buyer has a good hatch rate.

I know all about frustration. I bought 3 dozen eggs from a very popular Ebay seller and got nothing, zip, nada. Not even one chick. Think I was disappointed? Heck ya! Did I blame the seller? No. I know things happen. Heck, I've picked up eggs from a BYC'r and had a lousy hatch. I didn't blame her. There are too many factors to consider.

I sent this "gentleman" an email again explaining the dangers of shipping eggs. I asked him about his temps and humidity. Has he ever incubated duck eggs before? Explained that he should give it more time since he had only had the eggs since the 8th. I haven't heard back from him...yet.

Thanks for the support everyone. And I know that it can't be the cost of the eggs that's got him in an uproar....he got both sets of eggs for $1.98. I guess some people just like to complain.

Laurie

 

[FenDruadin]

Ha ha--sorry, but I think it's hilarious that he only paid you two bucks and still thinks it's appropriate to b*tch. That's a heck of a deal, even if all he was going to do was eat them.

It sounds to me like he is looking for a fight. Frankly, if it were me, I'd just refund the money and put him on my blacklist. That's how I do business with my writing too--when I discover a client who is just plain unpleasant to deal with, I stop invoicing, tell him "thank you very much" and add him to my database of people I never work with again. I don't, however, actually issue refunds, but in the case of a $2 charge, I probably would.

But, anyway, that's probably not really what you need to hear. Even if it is just $2, it's not fun to receive nasty emails, especially when you have done the right thing and been conscientious and put effort into the deal. He's out of line, and you have acted honorably. Everyone here knows that shipping is a gamble, no matter how careful the seller is.

Good luck with whatever comes next. My guess is that he will probably still want to fight--he'll want to argue with your defenses and tell you how much experience he has and that you're rude to question his incubation processes and so on. Just remember that this is about his issues, not yours. Keep cool and do what's right for you. And I'm sorry you have to deal with it.

 

[Ellaluvsbirds]

Sorry to hear about that note. Don`t let that stop you from selling more eggs. I usually candle at 7 days of incubation but even if I don`t think they are fertile I still keep them in the incubator just in case because I could be wrong.