15 eggs, 3 weeks, not broody!

[Indyrun]

Ok my girl has laid 15 eggs. She tends to her nest only at night when she is forcefully locked in.
It's been 3 weeks and she is not broody.
What am I going to do with these eggs!
Someone told me they are viable for up to 3 weeks. Tomorrow is 3 weeks.

 

[dheltzel]

Mark 5 or 6 of them with a pencil, then remove the others. You could save them for a bit, but probably they are bad and you will want to get rid of them. Each day, take out any new eggs, write the date on them and store them in a cool place (60 - 70 degrees is ideal). When they get past a week or 10 days old, they are not really viable for hatching and you should eat them. If your duck goes broody (no guarantee, many will not), you can swap out the dummy eggs you left in the nest for the eggs that you saved.

Some older eggs will hatch, but the percentage drops off, so you might as well eat the eggs.

 

[EyeCandyQuilts]

I am new to having ducks and my female khaki just started laying eggs10 days ago. What exactly is broody? Is it a behavior of caring for eggs? Also, I always throw the eggs out as she is a lone female (our male was attacked aboutba month ago and didnt make it so our female has been inside) I assumed the eggs were like the eggs in the fridge and werrnt any good after a few hours. They stay for days??
Thanks!

 

[KARy408]

Eat your eggs everyone! Sheesh!

I've never heard the three week rule, and that seems really odd to me considering commercial eggs don't even make it to the store within a month!

Were the eggs excessively dirty? Is the Bloom still intact? As long as you're keeping your birds in good conditions, I'd eat your three week old duck eggs without a second thought.

EyeCandyQuilts-- what eggs are you throwing out after a few hours?!?! Isn't that crazy wasteful?

Duck eggs are amazing, tasty and nutritious! Great for baking too! They stay good for weeks, months even if you preserve them correctly. See this Mother Earth news article about a test they ran in the 70's in which they kept eggs for upwards of 120 days:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/how-to-store-fresh-eggs-zmaz77ndzgoe.aspx#axzz3Bt6vpujs

Going "broody" is when a duck decides she wants to hatch her eggs, stops laying new ones and just sits on her nest all day taking care of the little ones growing inside.

 

[needlessjunk]

I am new to having ducks and my female khaki just started laying eggs10 days ago. What exactly is broody? Is it a behavior of caring for eggs? Also, I always throw the eggs out as she is a lone female (our male was attacked aboutba month ago and didnt make it so our female has been inside) I assumed the eggs were like the eggs in the fridge and werrnt any good after a few hours. They stay for days??
Thanks!

What?!? No eggs are good for a few weeks! Once you refrigerate them they are good for 2 months or so. I buy chicken eggs (15 dozen) from Costco on they stamp the package date on the side and the best by date is usually 1.5 months later. Yes, we go through a lot of eggs... Hence why we are getting into ducks. But that is the package date not the date they were laid.

 

[dheltzel]

This is the confusion -- eggs are good for eating for weeks, refrigerated maybe longer. But for hatching, you don't want to refrigerate them and the viability of the egg start to drop after 10 days. Some will still hatch, but after 3 weeks, I don't know that I'd bother trying.

In the case of infertile eggs, like when no male is present, then obviously we are talking eating only.

 

[Indyrun]

Thanks guys...
I'll go and count them this morning.
So if there is still the same number of eggs and she's not sitting on them I guess I better either throw them or attempt incubator.
Someone also mentioned to put plastic eggs in place... ???

 

[KARy408]

Thanks guys...
I'll go and count them this morning.
So if there is still the same number of eggs and she's not sitting on them I guess I better either throw them or attempt incubator.
Someone also mentioned to put plastic eggs in place... ???

I still don't understand why you have to throw the eggs out? At the very least you can feed them to other animals, or back to your ducks again (cooked).

 

[EyeCandyQuilts]

I had thrown out hers since theres no male present and did?lize they stayed good that long. I wouldnt eat eggs from the fridge if it sat at room temp for hours so figured duck eggs were the same.
Since though, weve started keeping them for eating! Deema is broody but the problem is that as a house duck, she has made her nest out of feathers and my fake floral bouquets. No issue there BUT since Id take the eggs for eating, she now roosts on the remote control and pc mouse! Hasnt laid an egg in almost a week now and im just not sure if thats normal? Will she eventually realize the clicker and mouse wont hatch and stop being broody

 

[EyeCandyQuilts]

We are in the process of moving her back outdoors when the new ducks are big enough so I hope once shes back outside all the time, she will go back to regular laying and nesting.