The best education for both you and the children would be to get your hands on some good books about the basic care of waterfowl. If you do it before you attempt to incubate any eggs, it will probably increase your success, as well as save you all from possible dissapointment. Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks and the Book of Geese, both by Dave Holderread, as well as Domestic Duck, and Domestic Geese, both by Chris Ashton, are about the best books out there on domestic waterfowl. Your inability to hatch is not caused by any infertility with your birds, it's your management. No domestic poultry or waterfowl will hatch eggs effectively in a communal nest like you have. The books explain why, and how to manage the birds so that they will have a better chance of hatching their own eggs.

Look on the Internet to find out if Magpie ducks will incubate (set on) their own eggs. As long as they are not in with a lot of other birds, I suspect that she would succeed in hatching her own. Sometimes they lay an egg every other day, until they reach what they consider to be a full clutch. Before they are actually starting to set on the eggs seriously, you'll notice that she will start building the nest and lining it with fluff from her own breast. This is, of course, if she will set on her own. I reckon that those eggs will be good for at least two weeks, while she gathers more. If you decide to use an incubator, I'd recommend one with a thermostat, hydrometer, forced air and egg turner; that is if you can afford it. I used to purchase the Styrofoam cheapo incubators, about every 12 months. They would get contaminated during hatching and after a couple of uses there was no way to use them successfully, as the eggs would become contaminated and cause sick, deformed chicks. Ducks require a bit more humidit'y for incubation, so you'd have to research that. I have hatched duck eggs under a broody hen. That works. But once they hatch, you have to take the ducklings and raise them yourself. The hen doesn't "speak the same language" as the ducklings. They don't communicate well and the ducklings abandon the hen after less than a day. Hope this helps, George

I'm by no means an expert here so take it with a grain of salt: I would put a rack, like a bread cooling rack or similar, between the heating pad & the eggs. The pad may get too hot if the eggs are laid directly on it. Check the temp regularly & adjust as needed. Turn the eggs several times a day(mark them with an "X" so you know which ones you've turned). Mist twice a day, maybe 3 times. If they have only a week to go before hatching, you should start seeing the eggs moving slightly if you look real close. You may even hear some peeping as they get closer to hatching. Also, I would try candling the eggs again using a flashlight & an empty tissue paper roll. Good luck. How is the duckling doing that was hatched/cracked prematurely?

I tried hatching out quail eggs from an incubator several times mostly unsuccessfully. I did hear that humidity is important. Also I heard you should NOT touch the eggs with your hands or fingers. I had numerous chicks that couldn't make it out of the egg, and also numerous times I tried to help them out of the egg, and they were never healthy. I also had quit a number that hatched, but had deformed legs and couldn't walk right. It was very heartbreaking. I did have 2 occassions where the hen actually did hatch out a couple babies (out of many eggs) and they are the cutest things on earth. I call them bumblebees! Even the other quail in the pen would sit on them to keep them warm. I really enjoyed them. I don't have them anymore and do miss them.