What do I do with abandoned Muscovy duck eggs?

Question

The neighborhood Muscovy duck nested next to our front porch. She laid about 5 eggs and then a week later laid 11 more. A couple of days after that, she was killed by a raccoon or coyote. The eggs were unattended for about 48 hours until I found the mother's carcass and realized what had happened. There has been no sign of her mate either. The temperature stayed fairly warm, only getting down to about 80 at night and 90 during the day. At the advice of an experienced friend, I placed them in a box with rags and nest remnants. I have them under a lamp and spritz them with a little bit of water to keep them warm and moist. I have read that it will take about 35 days for Muscovy duck eggs to hatch and that I should turn them every day until it is time for them to hatch. However, I wanted to verify these suggestions and see if anyone had any other advice for me. I know it's a long shot to save these eggs, but it's worth a try.

As for candling the eggs to see if they're still viable, is there a proper procedure? What do I check for besides movement?

Also, what should I feed the ducklings if they survive?

Answer 1

ask the vet dont listin to us the vet noes ever thing

Answer 2

If the eggs were alone for 48 hours, there's a very very very good chance that they're not viable any more. Even if it stayed relatively warm, the temperature change was enough to kill off any chick. The eggs normally need to be kept at a relatively constant ~100 degrees, 48 hours would have allowed them to cool off too much.

Candling the eggs is pretty easy, you just need a small enough light that it won't go around the egg, only though it. Ideally if you can point the light on the egg without moving them it's great. If you must pick them up, make sure your hands are clean and you do it as quickly as possible.

If you see veins, and even sometimes the chicks moving, the egg's good. If you see nothing, or a dark blob with no veins, the egg's no longer any good.