What should my duck eggs look like, candling day 19

[raindrop]

I candled last night, am on day 20. Storey's Guide says to candle day 19 to check viability and get rid of dead eggs before they get stinky/explode. These eggs were all developing when candled day 8.
They were dark, could see a few vessels and light shining through at the pointy end. The air cell was not big enough, so I have lowered humidity. Some seemed more dark than others. One had only about 50% of the egg dark, but could see vessels.
I am confused. Maybe my candler is not good enough (box with a 60 watt bulb covered in cardboard with a hole cut in the top, I am laying the eggs on their sides).

Help me please experienced duck hatchers. Thank you.

 

[Julie08]

The egg should be almost all dark except for the air cell. If you are lucky you should be able to see moving around. You should be able to see veins, if I were you I would just leave them alone if you are not sure. Better to just leave them in there. Give them all a good sniff if any smell bad then maybe you have to discard but other then that just leave them alone if you are not sure.

 

[raindrop]

Thank you!
One sounds like it is iffy.
I will keep it in, none of them smelled bad.
Will check again right before I set up for hatching on day 25.

 

[LilyWhite]

I have a duck egg that I have been incubating and it is day 21 and I can see the shape of the duckling but no movement. I candled 3 days ago and there was no movement then either but I can see veins. It does not stink... when I turn the egg the black mass does not move. How can I tell if it is still living by candling? Please help I am very anxious. It is a pekin egg

 

[sumi]

As long as it doesn't look off and smell off leave it in there and keep an eye on it. Also have a look here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed

Good luck!

 

[FenDruadin]

Your description sounds like EXACTLY what I expect around Day 20 with duck eggs (I'm assuming mallard derivatives--muscovies have a longer incubation period). About 50-60% dark, with veins at the large end, bright at the small end, and a nice-size air cell (but not yet 30%). You can also help increase air cell size by spritzing twice daily with warm water. Sounds counter-intuitive, but it has to do with the polarity of water molecules--i.e., the fact that they attract to each other, so water on the outside of the shell can help draw extra water out of the egg.

I've hatched lots of duck babies (for a home hobbyist, anyway--nothing like what commercial or even professional breeders do), and as far as I'm concerned, your hatch sounds very promising.

Congrats, and good luck! Keep us updated.

 

[LilyWhite]

I candled it again today and it seems to have moved from the position it was in because I outlined it yesterday with a pencil. Still not moving around but it has moved from the position it was in... and the pointed end of the shell is clear but up next to the air sac is where it is at the most and the sac is getting bigger... I hope it is ok... :/

 

[LilyWhite]

Sorry I missed the part about it being bright at the small end. Should there be veins ther too because ther is?

 

[LilyWhite]

This is what it looks like... I think what the scary part is because its not moving and it snot dark on one side.

 

[FenDruadin]

BEA-U-TI-FUL. Those are happy, healthy eggs you've got there. Definitely live ones. Congrats!!!

Don't worry if you don't always see movement. For one thing, it's subtle and you're inexperienced (smile). For another thing, even embryos have to sleep sometimes.

If something happens and one of them dies (and frequently some will), the blood vessels will deteriorate within a day. As long as you've got healthy vessels like that, you've got live babies.

Also, don't be stressed when they fill up almost the entire egg and you don't see vessels at all because it's all dark--that just means they're almost ready to hatch.

Congrats!