duck egg

[bubbly2000]

I'm trying to hatch a duck egg. I have it in a box warmed to the (hopefully) correct temperature with a dish of water for humidity and I spray it with the water and turn it a few times a day. However, I was wondering if there is anyway you can tell if it's live and growing. I have held it under the tourch covered in brown paper, but not too sure what I'm supposeed to see. Its been 15 days.

[tamborine]

There should be a dark spot (embryo) visible with the torch light. In time the spot enlarges as the embryo grows. It should fledge at 3weeks.

[wildwood]

I doubt very much if it will be successful, however, here's hoping. The egg needs to be kept at about 38° with a 60% humidity. Once there is the slightest sound of peeping the temp should be lowered a few degrees and the humidity up to 80%.

You would have had a much better chance of success had you popped it in your bra, although turning over in bed may be a problem.

To find out if your egg is viable, at 15 days you should not be able to see light through the egg. Hold it up to a 100w light bulb or the sun (only for a few seconds) then hold a fresh egg up for comparison. If the duck egg is really dark inside you may be successful be don't be too disappointed if it is not. It may not have been fertile in the 1st place.

Principle ground birds such as ducks and all poultry eggs are quite easy to incubate but they still need a fairly constant temperature. If you want to go further you may want to purchase a second hand incubator and experiment further. Its real fun.