Candling Duck Eggs

I have been asked about candling duck eggs.

I haven’t candled eggs myself before but I think it is a good idea so that you can check the eggs are fertile, see the development of the embryo and discard any infertile eggs. I have read that it is ok to candle duck eggs from day 7-10.

Here is an excellent link which shows a daily image of egg candling.

There are lots of duck owners on the farmingfriends forum so I have asked them when they candle their duck eggs.

Here is their advice:

Lisa said,

You can candle eggs from 7 days, do it in a dark room , hold a small torch to the back of the egg, keep the eggs point down so you have the air sac at the top, you can see this, it will look like lighter, look for red spider like lines this is the start of the duckling.

Mo and Mama shared this link http://www.duckeggs.com/hatching-eggs.html

Laura said,

I took them out one at a time and shone a torch into the sac end with a regular torch (I cupped my hand so it just went into the egg) very interesting!

Remember that if you decide to candle your eggs, make sure that you handle the eggs carefully and only take them out of the incubator for a short time.

Check out the following books about ducks and incubating and hatching eggs.

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