Are these eggs ok to eat?

[konazz]

I have two Pekins (about 6-7 months old). Apple, the female, has recently started laying eggs. A few issues:

1) its winter here in Canberra, and most nights its below zero degrees. I didn't think she'd lay during winter, although they seem warm enough as they still sleep in their ponds overnight (they have 2 different houses to go into)
2) they're only 7 months old, so not quite adults yet
3) and we're not sure if they're fertilised.

We can't split the male and female up, as they'd get lonely and were raised together. Also, we don't have a yard big enough to have two pens.

a) how i can check if they're fertilised
b) what should I do if they are fertilised?

I assume they can't be eaten... we do take them away from her every morning, so not sure if thats enough time for development.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Fertilized eggs are perfectly safe to eat. They haven't had any development, certainly not at zero degrees, so they're just eggs no matter whether or not they are fertilized.

You can check if they are fertilized by cracking one open and looking for the bullseye. There's a great guide to telling the difference at this link.

 

[konazz]

Thanks for the info.

We've got about 6 already in the fridge, but weren't sure what to do with them.

 

[Tahai]

Hi, Konazz.

Eggs that have been frozen are safe to eat. The quality of them may not be as good as non-frozen eggs for fried eggs, but for all other purposes, they are just as good. In fact, freezing is a great way to store excess eggs. (break open eggs and scramble them, then spoon into ice-cube trays and freeze. 3 Tbsp = 1 large chicken egg for recipe purposes. Put the frozen cubes in ziploc bags, and pull out an thaw at need.)

If you are unwilling to eat fertilized eggs for religious or moral reasons, you will have to get rid of your drake if you ever want to eat eggs from your duck.

If you don't mind eating fertilized eggs, but are worried about finding a nasty surprise inside...eggs don't begin to develop until the duck goes broody and begins sitting on a nest.

Best wishes with your ducks,

Tahai

 

[nickie]

Put it this way, I feed fertilized eggs to my children and will continue to do so. Both duck and chicken. As I've heard there are people who are against doing so, but taste and texture are not affected in any way.

Being in Australia I am assuming you don't use farenheit as your temperature, so zero degrees to you would be 32* for us Americans. At that temperature it takes a while for eggs to freeze so in my opinion you are good there too.

 

[konazz]

Yeah i'm in Australia, so our temps at the moment are around -5 to 12 degrees celsius.

We have no problem eating the fertilised ones - as they won't be developed at least for a few days. We collect them usually every second morning and store them in our fridge at 4 degrees celsius.

 

[konazz]

Tahai,

our female Pekin gets a bit broody, and we found her sitting on her nest a few nights ago. But during the day she leaves them completely alone. I didn't think Pekins were particularly broody, so without an incubator we still wouldn't get any ducklings (which is a good thing at the moment, until we move to a bigger house).

 

[billw]

From a safety standpoint, you can eat a fertilized egg any time from the moment it is laid to the moment that it hatches.

(It just may not be appealing for much of that time.)

 

[nickie]

Tahai,

our female Pekin gets a bit broody, and we found her sitting on her nest a few nights ago. But during the day she leaves them completely alone. I didn't think Pekins were particularly broody, so without an incubator we still wouldn't get any ducklings (which is a good thing at the moment, until we move to a bigger house).

While Pekins aren't known for thwir broodiness, they can and do go broody. My pekin is a very good broody.