Egg Storage

So, your Duck laid an egg. What now?

Ducks start to lay between 5 and 9 months old, depending on breed, and season. Their first few eggs will be smaller, about the same size as an extra large chicken egg. The Shell will be Extremely strong! As the duck continues to grow, they will start to lay full size duck eggs. Typically, within a few weeks of their first egg, you will start to get full size ones. Most duck breeds can lay year round, but all breeds will pause if the temp gets to cold, so they can focus their energy on staying warm. Ducks can lay strongly for up to 10 years old, with each year a slight decrease in production from the previous year.

If you only have Hens, that egg will not be fertile, so your only option is to use it as a table egg, and consume or sell it. They are excellent for baking. They are more nutritious then a chicken egg. Their shell is many times stronger then a chicken egg.

If you add Drakes to your flock, you will start to get fertile eggs. We always leave them in the pen together for at least 2 weeks before we collect an egg we can be comfortable is fertile. Any ducklings that are hatched will be a cross between the breed of the Drake, and the breed of the Hen.

Storing your eggs is fairly simple.

Firstly, don’t wash your eggs. If your pens are clean, and regularly maintained, most of your eggs should only have a slight mess when picked up. If they are overly filthy, check to see what you can to better maintain your birds bedding. If there is the odd bits and pcs of mess or bedding on your eggs, gently wipe them off, but we don’t recommend wiping with a cloth, or washing, or scrubbing your eggs. They have a bloom and that will offer more protection to the lifespan of that egg then anything you are able to offer.

Your hatching eggs, should be stored at 13C and ideally 75% humidity. If they are stored at this temp they will be remain viable for 7 days. After 7 days, they will start to lose viability exponentially for every day afterwards. We don’t attempt to hatch eggs that are more then 10 days old.

All our fertile eggs that don’t make it to an incubator, get added to the consumable pile after 10 days. We store our human consumption eggs in a fridge, but they don’t require one. An egg that has not been washed will last on your counter for a week. It won’t go bad after a week, but the quality will begin to deteriorate. If refrigerated, the egg can easially last a few months. In addition to temperature, storing eggs at, or close to 75% humidity can dramatically increase the time the egg remains healthy. When in doubt, simply float test your egg. It it sinks it is still fresh. If it floats, it is bad. If its in between, and only half floating, use it right away, as it is at the end of its healthy lifespan.

If collecting eggs in the freezing months, you will often find eggs that are frozen. A frozen egg is fine for consumption, but not for hatching. If the egg has frozen to the point the shell has cracked, we do not recommend it for human consumption. We use cracked eggs as a treat for our birds. We scramble them in a NON-TEFLON frying pan, and it provides them with a very nutritious healthy treat they enjoy.

Always remember, the health of the egg, is determined by the health of the duck. A happy, nutritiously well fed duck, with drinking water, and bathing water, that is getting play time, social interaction, is safe from the threat of predators, and has access to both sunshine and shade, with a clean, sanitary sleeping area, is a Healthy duck.