Broken egg put in pool

[My2petducks]

Hi everyone! I have two female Pekin ducks. Today my husband was taking eggs out of the nest and noticed a couple that were broken. While he was cleaning the good eggs he noticed the larger of the 2 ducks take the broken eggs out of the nest and put them in the pool. She did this with both of them. She then got in the pool and it looked like she was eating the shells. Is this normal behavior? We've had them a little over a year and this is the first time we've noticed them do this. Here's a picture of our girls! Thanks in advance!

 

[Duck Drover]

They will need more calcium to thicken the shells. Sometimes eggs with thin shells get cracked and then the birds will eat them. Thicker shells keep this from happening. We feed back dry crushed up eggshells but you can put out oyster shell or use calcium tablets crushed and added to feed. We do not put calcium in feed because we have drakes and roosters so we only offer it free choice. If they are breaking the shells to eat the eggs that is a behavioral issue that can be hard to correct.

 

[Duck Drover]

I should add that collecting eggs right away will help keep the eggs from getting broken so daily collection is important.

 

[My2petducks]

Thank you Duck Drover! We aren't collecting them on a daily basis but will start doing that!

 

[Duck Drover]

I figured since you have only two ducks and more than two eggs they were not getting collected daily. Sometimes using ceramic or wood nest eggs can discourage them from breaking eggs on purpose to eat once they have become egg eaters but in my experience birds tend to eat the cracked eggs and leave the intact ones alone. Strengthing the shells and collecting daily usually fixes the problem.

 

[My2petducks]

Yeah we won't eat them (mind thing) so they don't get collected everyday. But I will try to find someone to take them and collect them daily. Thanks for your help!

 

[Duck Drover]

You should try brownies made with duck eggs. You will never use chicken eggs again once you have used duck eggs because they come out so perfect, even the cheap box mixes.

 

[My2petducks]

I've heard that using duck eggs in baking is really good. I'll have to try it!

 

[cayugaducklady]

Duck egg cheesecake, creme brûlée and duck egg ice cream are our go to sweet treats!

 

[Duck Drover]

I am thinking we need to try duck egg custard too!