Dirty duck eggs

[Lynxfire]

I have searched and found that it is best not to clean duck eggs but I currently have 3 out of 7 girls laying eggs and out of the 12 ducks in the house the eggs become a toy and are always in a pile of poop. I have thrown the ones they crack away. I want to be safe but I also want to eat healthy eggs. I have been rinsing them and using vinagar (but incorrectly using the hose on them) when cleaning the house daily. How should I be dealing with the poopy eggs? Soon there will be way more then we can eat.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I have searched and found that it is best not to clean duck eggs but I currently have 3 out of 7 girls laying eggs and out of the 12 ducks in the house the eggs become a toy and are always in a pile of poop. I have thrown the ones they crack away. I want to be safe but I also want to eat healthy eggs. I have been rinsing them and using vinagar (but incorrectly using the hose on them) when cleaning the house daily. How should I be dealing with the poopy eggs? Soon there will be way more then we can eat.

It's unhealthy to clean them when they're mostly clean already. Poopy eggs, however, are a bacterial nesting ground. And vinegar isn't the cleaner you want to use; it takes off some of the shell, making it easier for bacteria to penetrate it.

If they're filthy, clean them with warm water and refrigerate because you've just moved the protective coating.

If they've got just a little bit of grime on them, you can get away with spot-cleaning them and still leave them out of the refrigerator.

 

[Lynxfire]

Covered in poop every morning. Barely any white. They seriously roll the eggs around like their toy balls!

 

[sylviethecochin]

Covered in poop every morning. Barely any white. They seriously roll the eggs around like their toy balls!

Then definitely clean! Blume is just a little antibacterial layer, and enough poop will negate it.

 

[DuckyDonna]

When I was a little girl I grew up on a chicken farm (at least 3000 chickens) and I'd sit for hours and hours across from my grama with baskets and baskets of eggs between us to go through. We just used a damp rag and a dull knife for scraping off the poop. If there wasn't anything on them they just get put in the "done" bucket and off to the candler. I know we're not talking chickens here but I would think ducks would be similar?

 

[Loopeend]

I make sure that the muddy/poopy ones are not used for a 'runny' egg (so only totally heated). They are often directly used for really hardboiled polish deviled eggs since they have been cooked first thurougly, peeled, and then fried again (so heated twice) the same as Indonesian fried eggs. Wash them before use; wash my hands a lot; and don't let them being eaten by pregnant friends or children or other people that might have a weaker immunesystem.
The chances are not REALLY big that you get something from it; but every measure that can prevent it is wise. I also 'de-worm' myself weekly with a garlic-parsley-pepper soup. which strangly actually works (to my surprise as a natural-nature-medication-stuff sceptic)... Since worms/parasites are often the first thing you get from digesting poop/mud.

It may sound all a bit over the top; but if you can avoid a risk; why not? If I can chose to have a runny egg made from a clean egg or a poopy/muddy egg..why would I use the poopy/muddy egg If there are only muddy/poopy eggs; well, no runny egg for me today and I will have to do with a double-heated one.

Unfortunately ducks are not so trainable to lay eggs on clean places haha. You can try a fake-egg, or make the entrance of the coop in a way that they can't roll the egg out, or maybe a bigger coop can work so the chances are smaller that they poop on their eggs.. or put deviders in the coop so they can't roll eggs so far... but I have given up because where they lay eggs is different from day to day.. and some JUST don't care and pop an egg out on whatever place they are at that moment, in the pool, standing on a bag of garbage, etc. and that's just ducks.

 

[Yardmom]

I'm guessing the dirt on these eggs is more than can be scraped. Ducks don't always lay in the clean straw that is offered. Eggs can be washed. Just run them under water that is warmer than the eggs. If need be use an old vegetable brush or rag for tough spots. Never soak. Once they are washed refrigerate. They might not last as long as unwashed, .but they can still keep for over a month.

 

[CrystaBub]

I think it's a personal preference on how you clean/store eggs. I give a lot of eggs away, and I know people won't eat them if they look gross and I don't my girls' hard work to be wasted I wash all my eggs in warm water and scrub off all the poop and stains with a soft brush. Along with that, the bloom is washed off, so I let them air dry for about 10 mins and rub them with mineral oil to give them a protective coating. This way they can be refrigerated or not for storage.

 

[chickens really]

What type of bedding do you use? Can collect eggs sooner?

 

[Lynxfire]

What type of bedding do you use? Can collect eggs sooner?

I use a light layer of pine shavings that the poop is sprayed out daily and the ducks don't seam to be creating any nest with them.

We had 4 eggs today so someone else may be starting to lay. All healthy yet poopy looking.