Holding a heartbeat in your hand...

[Duck Hill]

Candling blue/green Runner duck eggs. The first two days, nothing. The third day, a few blood vessels, maybe, perhaps. The fourth day - a beating heart! Wow! The duckling is nothing more than a red speck at the center of several blood vessels. But in that speck is a beating heart! It is humbling and terrifying (in a good way) to hold a beating heart in an egg in my hand. Literally, a beating heart, because that's the only recognizable part of the duckling.

I made the video below, by candling an egg from my duck Cinnamon.

By the way, this "heartbeat" phase lasts only a few hours, up to one day. After that, the duckling grows, so the heart disappears inside of it.

 

[sumi]

The miracle of life… Thank you for sharing!

 

[caesargirl]

 

[lazy gardener]

I agree, and THAT is why I'm a candling addict. To hold a warm egg, and see that heart beat. To see that chick dancing inside the egg, doing a water ballet. To hear that little miracle talking before she's even broken through the shell. Then, to see those little fluff balls going about the business of becoming adults without even being taught. That first dust bath... totally priceless.

 

[Chickenchick11]

Wow! How amazing!

 

[Duck Hill]

A "candling addict" yes!!! I candle first thing when I get up, when I get home, and sometimes before I retire for the night as well. I don't want to bother them... I just hold the light long enough to see the movement. Then I grin and move on to the next egg. I just have a little 9 Led flashlight.

When they were still little sometimes I wouldn't see the embryo (I think it was hiding in the center of the egg). But I'd hold the light to the egg and I'd see waves! So I knew something was moving in there.

Now they're bigger and I'm looking for a bill or foot or something. Haven't seen that yet. Just moving shadows. It is so exciting!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I saw "candling addict" on the main page and just had to stick my nose in since I am a fellow addict. Hello my name is Amy and when I am hatching I spot check a few eggs EVERY single night. Not all of them every night, but a few just to get my fix. My last hatch last season I even did a candling experiment to prove to the nay sayers that yes you can. I set 21 of my pullet's eggs. I set 6 aside for every night candle and the rest were only to be candled on days 7/14/18. (Ok, there was one other night I couldn't get my fix so I candled them an extra night too.

But over all the rest had only 4 days of candling.) All 21 were fertile and started growing. Around day 4-5 I noticead an oily sheen on one of the NON CANDLED eggs and I did check it to find that it was a quitter and threw that out. All 6 of the every day candled and the others made it to lock down and all 20 hatched out perfectly healthy happy chicks!!

I feel bad for the hands off people that deny themselves to take part in the miracle of development. It is such an awesome thing to see and experience and you learn so much!

 

[Duck Hill]

Aww you did a science experiment. That is so cool! Thank you for your results.

 

[kuchchicks]

Very cool video! Thanks for Sharing!!!

@chickenchic11 - love your avatar! I am a HUGE X-Files fan! Was so glad to see it come back this season. I am hoping that the cliffhanger means it is coming back next season!

 

[Duck Hill]

The heartbeat.... has now become a bill. A bill moving in the air sack. The bill taps against the shell and it moves sometimes like it's quacking.

It does not show up on the video, but when I held the egg to my ear I heard tapping and, just once... a peep!

Too bad I couldn't watch that egg for hours and hours... I had to put it back into the incubator quickly. I didn't keep it out more than 5 minutes every two hours or so.