I found a duck egg. I don't know how to tell if it's still
alive. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Chaeda from Columbia, MD
Try to find a bird rescue site that's local online. They will take it and take care of it if it's alive. (03/30/2007)
I know freshly laid eggs can last up to 10-14 days cold and still hatch. They seem to go dormant then once put under a bird or in an incubator they start to grow and take the usual days to hatch.
Nicki from England (03/31/2007)
It doesn't matter what kind of egg (curious how you know it's a duck egg:-), but all above tips are correct. They remain non-fertile until the hen begins incubating them. Once incubation begins they will be dead in shell if the process is interrupted (lack of heat) for more than a a few hours.
You can "candle" them by cutting cardboard circle to cover a flashlight with a
hole in the center (place the egg) going in a dark room, place egg in hole and see if there are red veins). If you decide to make a homemade incubator temp 100 or 101 degrees, be sure to provide moisture and softly turn the egg periodically. Good luck! (04/01/2007)
From what I've been reading online, wild duck eggs, if touched by humans, may never be taken back by their mothers. Consider carefully before you pick up wild duck eggs, the mother may just be off the nest getting some food. (05/01/2007)
Eggs don't get fertilized by something sitting on them.
Here is the bird side of the birds and the bees from enaturalist.com, by Jim Berry:
"After mating, inside the female, sperm swim up a tube called the oviduct, at the end of which there is an ovum, inside which resides the female sex germ. If the ovum is mature, it's already equipped with yolk, the yellow part of the future egg. The sperm may now fertilize the ovum by penetrating it and uniting the two sex-cells' genetic material.
After fertilization, the ovum with its yolk begins its own journey down the oviduct, a process lasting about 24 hours. During the first three or four hours, moving at about one tenth of an inch (2.3 mm) per minute, albumen (egg white) is added around the ovum and its yolk. The yellow yolk will serve as food material for the developing chick; the white will mainly keep the yolk from drying out, and will give the yolk physical support
Now the future egg slows to about 40 percent of its earlier speed, and membranes are added around the yolk and egg white. Finally the shell is put in place, taking 19 to 20 hours. Then, the hen Mallard lays her fertilized egg!"
I use to have a duck. If any of your have a store called Southern States near you, that is where we used to buy our duck food. If not, check with some local farms, they should be able answer your questions. (06/03/2007)
I found a duck egg too and you just have to put it in a cup with a wash cloth underneath it and put a light over it, but not too close. Spray it with warm water every hour and turn it 3-5 times a day. To see if it is alive just put it under a flashlight in a dark room. (06/24/2007)
First see if it's warm. If it it is cold, throw it out. If not take a egg carton and shine a light through it and put the egg on top if there is a embryo inside. Keep it warm (not hot) and find someone who can incubate it. (05/11/2008)
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!