cleaning and selling duck eggs?

[thedoors5to1]

ok, so i have an accumulation of duck eggs piling up in the coop.

been eating some but cant manage to keep up cause i dont eat eggs often!

my questions are:
-how do you properly clean eggs (organically if possible?ehh i guess i mean without chemicals ) i just dont want to start selling eggs with poop on them and stuff, i generally just wash them off but dont want to be eating eggs or selling them if they have chemicals on them.

-How easy is it to sell duck eggs? should i post an ad in the newspaper? craigslist?

-and how old is too old to eat?

i know if an eggs bad it will float in water. but should eggs be eaten a week after being laid? 2 weeks? im wondering because ive had such an accumulation and dont know when some were laid. so when is an egg considered "best by date" how long? i will probably just pitch some in the mulch and feed them some, or the shells. but yes if you could help me it would be much appreciated!

 

[PlumTuckered]

I clean my duck eggs with straight water if I'm going to be using them in cooking or feeding back to the ducks. If I'm going to hatch them I don't run water on them, I just wipe 'em with a soft cloth and put them in the 'bator. I honestly don't know how long they're good for. I only have one Gal laying so I only get one egg a day LOL

Michelle

 

[ChickBond 007]

Duck eggs for eating are hard to sell because people are unaccustomed. However, I have one friend who prefers them. If you get to the eggs quickly, then they will be less mud/poo covered. If you don't, it seems that sometimes they never look appealing, even after washing.
It is easy to sell fertile duck eggs. I use Craigslist.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

The water you wash them with should be about ten degrees warmer than the egg, otherwise it forces bacteria back inside the shell.
Eggs can sit in room temperature for weeks and still be good, I think people have said four weeks has been fine, do give them the float test though.
I would be hesitant about selling any which you have lost track of their age. Maybe save those for your own cooking and start collecting everyday for sales. There are some great recipes on this site if you need to use a lot of eggs. Also it is a real nutritional boost to your layers to feed them back the eggs.
Many people are discovering they are allergic to chicken eggs so the market is growing. Asians have always appreciated duck eggs so you might check with local asian restaraunts or food markets.

 

[houndit]

I always sold them for hatching until a lady asked me for some to eat. She is allergic to chicken eggs. She paid $5.00 a dozen so I was happy.

 

[goosedragon]

The Supermarket eggs you buy have a one month date on them so they are good at least that long. Duck eggs have a "bloom" coating on the outside of the shell that helps protect them. as a child we didn't have lights in the Hen/ducK house so they slacked off laying during winter months so we would "put down' eggs during the fall so we would have some for winter. To put down a egg we would dip it in a solution called 'water glass' (sodium silicate solution) when the coating was dry it was like a thin coating of glass over the outside of the egg. then we would store them in our coldest root cellar, (our ice box actually had ice added to it for cooling) usually we would have usable eggs untill the birds started laying again in the spring. WARNING I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THIS! Mama always broke one at a time into a small bowl just in case one is bad I still do this because you can get bad eggs anywhere. I think you would be safe for 6 weeks If you collect your eggs promptly and store under damp refrigated conditions. I would not sell an egg that was more than one month old I think it is a USDA standard. I have been told that in Europe they sell their eggs from unrefrigated shelves and use the one month date for those too. I haven't seen Europe myself.

 

[Wifezilla]

To put down a egg we would dip it in a solution called 'water glass' (sodium silicate solution) when the coating was dry it was like a thin coating of glass over the outside of the egg. then we would store them in our coldest root cellar, (our ice box actually had ice added to it for cooling) usually we would have usable eggs untill the birds started laying again in the spring. WARNING I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THIS!

Why not? Mother Earth News did a whole write-up on how long eggs can last and the different preservation methods. Your mom's old method is one they talked about. Apparently the woman was a genius

"The widely touted idea of covering eggs with a solution of one part waterglass (sodium silicate) mixed with nine parts of boiled and cooled water does indeed seem to work better than any other "room temperature" preservation method we tried. If our experiences are any indication, though, it's really good for only about five months and is a distant second to controlled refrigeration.

Another point: As good as some eggs kept in waterglass were, almost every batch we opened seemed to contain one real stinker. Which makes it a superior idea to open any waterglassed egg (or any egg, for that matter) separately into a cup ... where it may be inspected before pouring it into a skillet, pan, or dish with other food."
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1977-11-01/Fresh-Eggs.aspx

Whenever you are in doubt about an egg's freshness, do the float test.
http://www.helpwithcooking.com/egg-guide/fresh-egg-test.html​

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Why not? Mother Earth News did a whole write-up on how long eggs can last and the different preservation methods. Your mom's old method is one they talked about. Apparently the woman was a genius

"The widely touted idea of covering eggs with a solution of one part waterglass (sodium silicate) mixed with nine parts of boiled and cooled water does indeed seem to work better than any other "room temperature" preservation method we tried. If our experiences are any indication, though, it's really good for only about five months and is a distant second to controlled refrigeration.

Another point: As good as some eggs kept in waterglass were, almost every batch we opened seemed to contain one real stinker. Which makes it a superior idea to open any waterglassed egg (or any egg, for that matter) separately into a cup ... where it may be inspected before pouring it into a skillet, pan, or dish with other food."
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1977-11-01/Fresh-Eggs.aspx

Whenever you are in doubt about an egg's freshness, do the float test.
http://www.helpwithcooking.com/egg-guide/fresh-egg-test.html

I think she was/is plenty smart but talking to other old timers that farmed before electricity got out to country farms it was pretty much standard practice. Why wouldn't I recommend it? to be blunt some on here can't figure out how/what to feed a duck. I am going to recommend the use of a chemical that is caustic and almost impossible to remove once it is dry? Refrigation works and it is easier than messing with water glass.
Did I ever tell the church pinic story here? Our church was about half townsmen and half farmers and they always had a church pinic the last Sunday in July. The year in question there were several huge platters of diveled (Sp) eggs, more than the coolers could hold so they were left on the table with just net to keep the bugs out. Everybody had their fill, by evening there were several ill people and the health department came to investigate the outbreak of food poisioning. They questioned the ill and they all had had diviled eggs and they were all townsmen. Then they questioned the well and most of them had eaten the eggs too. One investigator noticed that most of the well were tan so he asked what they did for a living-all farmers. He concluded that it was bacteria in the eggs, most of the farmers had immunity because they were exposed daily. the townsmen got ill because their clean living hadn' exposed them before. Thats where my interest in microbiology started.

 

[CorralitosSunflower]

I was just about to ask about cleaning duck eggs because ours always come out lookin a little less than desirable

My husband is allergic to chicken eggs, but not duck eggs however he cannot do the collecting or cleaning or else he cannot stomach them. I have found that even after I clean them with hot water and sometimes a little scrub brush there is still discoloration, mostly that looks like dots and dots with a tail kinda like sperm. Seems like it is part of the birds fluids/discharge that dried on them after laying but it is really hard to clean off. Has anyone else seen this?

 

[Wifezilla]

Some ducks have a grungy bloom. I had a buff with the WORST looking eggs...LOL

there were several huge platters of diveled (Sp) eggs, more than the coolers could hold so they were left on the table with just net to keep the bugs out. Everybody had their fill, by evening there were several ill people and the health department came to investigate the outbreak of food poisioning. They questioned the ill and they all had had diviled eggs and they were all townsmen. Then they questioned the well and most of them had eaten the eggs too. One investigator noticed that most of the well were tan so he asked what they did for a living-all farmers. He concluded that it was bacteria in the eggs, most of the farmers had immunity because they were exposed daily. the townsmen got ill because their clean living hadn' exposed them before. Thats where my interest in microbiology started.

Could have been prior exposure OR a higher blood vitamin D count in the farmers. A lack of vitamin D leads to a weak immune system. Probably a combination of both