Dead embryo? - Duck Eggs 25 days

[mystorey]

Hi there!
I rescued a couple of Mallard duck eggs from my garden a few weeks back. The mother had been sitting on them for about a week before the nest was attacked (these two eggs were the only two left intact).
The eggs seemed to be doing well in our incubator up until today, when I checked them before going to put them in lockdown.
I’ve attached pictures of both eggs, the first one definitely looks like there’s something wrong with it, but I’m not sure about the second. Neither egg is showing any movement at all…no bad smell from either egg yet though. Could the embryos have become shrink wrapped? Wondering if I should bother putting in lockdown.
First time trying to hatch eggs, so any insight would be appreciated!

 

[berryncherry]

Hi there!
I rescued a couple of Mallard duck eggs from my garden a few weeks back. The mother had been sitting on them for about a week before the nest was attacked (these two eggs were the only two left intact).
The eggs seemed to be doing well in our incubator up until today, when I checked them before going to put them in lockdown.
I’ve attached pictures of both eggs, the first one definitely looks like there’s something wrong with it, but I’m not sure about the second. Neither egg is showing any movement at all…no bad smell from either egg yet though. Could the embryos have become shrink wrapped? Wondering if I should bother putting in lockdown.
First time trying to hatch eggs, so any insight would be appreciated!

It is unlikely that the egg was shrink wrapped, as shrink wrapping is caused when the membrane is exposed(when the chick starts pipping) and dries out. It results in the chick being surrounded and wrapped by the membrane. Because your eggs haven't started pipping, it should not be the cause. For the second egg, do you happen to be able to see an embryo or veining? If not, the egg may have not been fertile in the first place or may have died along the way.

 

[mystorey]

It is unlikely that the egg was shrink wrapped, as shrink wrapping is caused when the membrane is exposed(when the chick starts pipping) and dries out. It results in the chick being surrounded and wrapped by the membrane. Because your eggs haven't started pipping, it should not be the cause. For the second egg, do you happen to be able to see an embryo or veining? If not, the egg may have not been fertile in the first place or may have died along the way.

Good to know, thank you for the info! In the second egg, the embryo was moving up until a couple of days ago. You can still see a little bit of veining in the egg.
Does the first one look dead?

 

[BelovedBirds]

Good to know, thank you for the info! In the second egg, the embryo was moving up until a couple of days ago. You can still see a little bit of veining in the egg.
Does the first one look dead?

sorry that no one replied.... I hope things turned out okay for the second egg.
The first definitely died, unless somehow in person you could see veins. It seems it stopped developing a while ago. The second was closer to hatch, if you can see veins, it's always going to be alive. Cant see the veins in the photo but you mentioned they were there. When the baby dies the veins collapse very quickly. I hope things worked out