How do i know if my duck egg is alive?

Answer 1

A week after your duck lays her eggs, you can take them in the dark and quickly flash them with a flashlight. If they are alive then you will see a dark area inside an otherwise clear egg. "At about seven days after setting, candle the eggs and remove any eggs that are infertile (clear) or have dead germ (cloudy)"(Duckhealth.com). Info taken from: http://www.duckhealth.com/hatcduck.html

Answer 2

Candling is a common method used to determine if a duck egg is alive. By shining a bright light through the egg in a dark room, you can see the development inside the egg. Look for veins, movement, or a growing embryo to indicate that the duck egg is alive.

Answer 3

Mallard ducks will lay their eggs over a few days and when they are done, the hen will start staying on the nest so they hatch about the same time. If the eggs have been there for more than a week and no hen in sight, the eggs are duds. Our Hen had 6 eggs, 2 hatched and she was with those two from then on. The other four eggs remained in the nest and she never returned. They were duds. She stayed at the pond and slept with those two at the pond for the next 6 weeks, never returning to the nest.