How can you tell if a baby duck is alive in a egg?

It was found in a fairly cold pond and it had one big crack on the shell.
Answers:
Sorry, but the cold from the pond would have killed the embryo, as would the crack in the shell. You'll have to throw it away.

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its done , throw it away ..

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A pond, or a website?

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The egg is cracked so regretfully, it is more than likely, dead if it were fertile.

There is no real way that I know of to tell if a duck egg is fertile or not- at least not with the naked eye. I certainly wouldn't save it to eat. So you know, it can take about 36 days to hatch and that's a slow one. Most about 32-33 days. But that isn't going to happen unless you have the apppropriate setting (incubator and such).

You really should never take an egg from the wild. If the mother hen (duck) would have come back what a horror to find your baby gone uh?

I know you may have had the best of intentions on taking the egg from the wild but just remember. It takes a lot of time, training, money and equipment to raise ducks so why try to do what mother nature does best? You'd never out do her. Not being bossy. I'm just sayin...

If you want to learn more just go to GOOGLE.COM and search DUCK EGG FAQs.

Wishing you the best! -Shell

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To see if the embryo is alive it is rather easy.All you need is a really good light.It is called candling the egg.By shining a bright light on the egg in a dark room you can see the contents of the inside.You can use a standard light bulb in a lamp and place a small box over the bulb.Cut a hole in the box about half as big as the egg.Turn out all other lights place the egg over the hole and the light will shine through it.Though unless the egg is ready to hatch a cracked egg will not hatch.The main reason being the crack allows to much bacteria to enter the egg and it kills the embryo.