A sad end to my duck journey - food allergies

[Oregon Blues]

If ducks don't work for you, then they don't work. There is no way around that. Someone in your area will like to have a nice flock of laying ducks.

I've cut my flock way back, because my son's brother has moved in with him and he can't eat duck eggs. That means when I cook, I must either cook two dishes, one with duck eggs and one with chicken eggs, or else I can make everything with chicken eggs and only cook it once. I can't justify feeding a flock of ducks, buying feed, and then going to the market and paying for chicken eggs.

 

[4hchickmama]

Just a suggestion, have you tried altering their feed and seeing how it affects you? I know someone who was having trouble digesting when her animals were fed a soy-based feed, but when she switched to an organic, non-soy feed, the problem went away. Just something you might want to try before getting rid of them. You would have to give it a while to get through their system, but it might be worth a try since you like your ducks so much.

 

[wildpeas]

I haven't been able to eat our duck eggs either. I'm in a position though to be able to keep them as pets and slug eaters and still be able to get some chickens. I'm sorry you can't keep your ducks.

 

[Bettacreek]

I'm by Penn State. I have some laying hens that I could give you, if you wanted. They are older though, about a year and a half now. Three light brahmas, which are cute, but sometimes they lay a really, really light colored egg that looks too much like a leghorn egg, so they have to go. I threw some "leghorn" eggs in the incubator, and when some hatched out with feathered legs, I started to watch who was on the nests and noticed that after the brahmasgot off the nest, they left an awfully "leghornish" egg behind. :/ Since I want to hatch and sell leghorn eggs only, I can't have that kind of confusion here. :/

If you are closer, I could offer you some pekin eggs to try as well, to test the soy theory. Mine don't get any soy at all, so it might be a nice test to try before totally getting rid of your ducks.

 

[GoldDogsMom]

Hi Leslie,

I'm about 3.5 hours north of you.

Oh, well that's a little farther than I thought but let me know if you decide to rehome your ducks, I still might be able to help you out.

 

[Mashallaharabia]

Instead of giving them away and taking the loss, why not just dress them out for the table? Duck is delicious. It's not hard; I've been doing this beginning at age 5.

 

[Bettacreek]

Depending on what they are, I'd say sell them. Pekin hens at POL can get you $20 each. I believe most others are about the same, maybe more, though I haven't paid much attention to the other breeds.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Tahai, sorry to learn about your allergy. I think $20 a piece for live healthy ducks is a good price. According to my husband, for someone who likes to eat duck, $20 is a great price because by the time hunters buy their licenses and equipment, plus time, well I guess they'd invest more than $20. If it were me, and I liked my ducks, I would keep chickens and ducks together- I have read of this working out well, not factoring in overly-ambitious drakes. So that may be an option. In fact, I came on tonight to research Rainbow Rangers. Also, having gone thru the food allergy stuff with my children, I'd make very sure that you actually are allergic (meaning, I'd get the skin test from Allergist Dr) before you make any changes, unless of course, you just want to. Best of luck to you.

 

[Amiga]

Tahai,

Please bear with me if someone has already suggested this, but what about the feed you are using? I just remembered that a neighbor raised his own chickens because his wife got sick when she ate storebought eggs, and they did some research to discover that local commercially raised chickens were fed things that she was allergic to. She could safely eat their own eggs because she was careful with what she fed her hens.

Just an idea. With all the weird stuff that goes on with animal feed, I thought I would toss this out as an idea.

You could be sensitive to GMOs, aflatoxin, mycelia . . . . not that those are in the feed, but I think they could be.

 

[Tahai]

Thank you, Everyone, for the suggestions and commiserations!

I've worked out a way to house a few chickens with my ducks without everyone being wet or pooped on So I'm going to keep my slug-ducks (who are doing an excellent job with the Japanese Beetle grubs, as well) and I'm going to try some chickens and see what happens.

In regards to the feed being the cause of my allergies, I believe that's probably correct. Since my initial post, I've discovered I have a sensitivity to non-organic corn. Causes the same symptoms as when I eat a duck egg or non-organic chicken egg. Not sure if it's the pesticides on the corn, or if it's because more GMO corn is making it's way into the food chain. When I eat organic corn products, I don't have any issues (as of yet).

When my chickens get close to laying age, I'm going to switch them over to organic feed (*big huge wallet ouch*), and see what happens. If it works, I'll put my ducks on organic feed next spring (2014), and see if I can eat their eggs. If it doesn't work, my neighbors are going to love me even more.'

Again, thanks for all you thoughts and ideas.

Tahai