Farming Friends

A way to tell if a duck egg is fertilised and if a chick is growing inside is to candle the egg.

Candling is a way of checking the fertility of an egg and the development of the embryo, with the use of a light source in a darkened room. In a darkened room, carefully hold the egg up to the light to observe the contents of the egg.

Click on this link for more information about candling an egg to see if the egg is fertilised.

I often get asked if you should help ducklings hatch out of their shell and how soon to help if the duckling has pipped it’s shell.

12 days ago we had our first duckling hatch. We are new to incubating and honestly, the duck eggs are our learning tools. This little duckling was a total surprise, we found him in the incubator and had no clue he was hatching.

The next batch of eggs is due to hatch on the 25th, or so we thought. When I went in to turn the eggs just now, one of them had a piece of shell missing, though the membrane was not broken. The chip was on the large end. I could see movement behind the membrane and thought I could hear the faintest of sound of peeping.

Will this little duckling die if the membrane does not break? Do I need to spray the eggs? Is this normal? What happens now? Any advice for a newbie to this?

Thanks in advance to anyone who cares to help/advise me!

Hi Deb,
Thanks for visiting farmingfriends and leaving your comment.
I would keep an eye on your duckling that has pipped the shell. If after a couple of hours the duckling hasn’t cut through the membrane then you may decide to break the membrane.
I think that it is important to keep the humidity at the right levels and therefore spraying the eggs with warm water may help.
When hatch is imminent it is important to try not to keep opening the incubator as this will affect the temperature and humidity levels and this could affect the success of the hatch.
Keep a watch out for more eggs pipping and if once pipped, the ducklings are not hatching then you may need to help. I had to help 6 of the 7 khaki campbell ducklings I have and they are now over 20 weeks old and doing very well and all laying eggs of their own!
If you decide to help then you need to work quickly to keep the egg warm. Peel the shell and membrane a little at a time making sure that you don?t make the duckling bleed. I usually try to peel as much of the shell and membrane except for cup shape at the bottom of the shell as this is where the duckling will still be attached.I then put the duckling back into the incubator so that it can wriggle out of the remaining shell in it’s own time. It is important not to leave membrane as this will dry onto the duckling and make it hard for the duckling to get out of the shell.
I hope you find this information useful.
I recently set up a free forum with a section on ducks that you may find useful. http://farmingfriends.com/forums/forum.php?id=5
Let me know how your ducklings get on and best of luck.
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends

A way to tell if a hen egg is fertilised and if a chick is growing inside is to candle the egg.

Candling is a way of checking the fertility of an egg and the development of the embryo, with the use of a light source in a darkened room. In a darkened room, carefully hold the egg up to the light to observe the contents of the egg.

Click on this link for more information about candling an egg to see if the egg is fertilised.

A way to tell if a quail egg is fertilised and if a chick is growing inside is to candle the egg.

Although candling a quail egg can be difficult due to the dark markings on the egg shell.

Candling is a way of checking the fertility of an egg and the development of the embryo, with the use of a light source in a darkened room. In a darkened room, carefully hold the egg up to the light to observe the contents of the egg.

Click on this link for more information about candling an egg to see if the egg is fertilised.

You can make your own incubator using a cardboard box, wood or a polystyrene box and a heat lamp and making your own wet bulb for the humidity.
Check out these links:
http://www.cyberquail.com/incubators.html
http://www.cornsnakefanclub.co.uk/incubator.html
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/eggs/res20-incubator.html

I have not built my own poultry egg incubator but use a hovabator incubator for hatching my poultry eggs.

If anyone has any tips on how to build your own poultry egg incubator then please leave a comment.

It is important for quail eggs that are not incubated straight away, to be stored correctly.

Cracked, poorly shaped, soiled, thin shelled, unusually large or unusually small quail eggs should not be kept for incubation.

Only select clean and undamaged quail eggs for incubation.

Quail eggs should not be washed.

Try not to handle the quail eggs too frequently.

When handling quail eggs make sure that hands are washed to avoid bacterial contamination.

Before incubation, quail eggs can be stored for up to 7 days.

When storing quail eggs before incubating, make sure that they are kept at a constant temperature of 13-18 degrees Celsius or 55-65 degrees Fahrenheit.

Do not store the quail eggs at ordinary room temperature or in a refrigerator.

Avoid placing the quail eggs in a draft when in storage before incubation.

Store quail eggs with the small end facing down.

Try to keep the quail eggs at the correct humidity prior to incubation which is a humidity of 84-88%.

Make sure the stored quail eggs are turned twice daily before they are incubated.

Keep the stored quail eggs in an egg carton and prop up one end at a 35 degree angle.

Hope this information helps. I have followed this information myself and had guinea fowl and quail eggs hatch out.

I have recently set up a forum with a section on quail. It is free to join and you can chat about your quail or ask questions and myself and other quail enthusiast are there to help. http://farmingfriends.com/forums/forum.php?id=4

To increase the humidity levels in an incubator you can:

* add a jar or tray of water
* add a wet towel

I believe that low humidity is caused by high temperatures which dry out the water trays in the incubator and help the humidity in the atmosphere evaporate.

You could also try to increase the humidity levels in the room in which the incubator is. You may also need to regulate the temperature in the room in which the incubator is in so that the temperature in the incubator doesn’t get too high.