Duck egg allergy/intolerance???

[KLoudon81]

Hi everyone. I have had ducks since March of this year. I personally am not a huge egg eater, but I've eaten about a dozen duck eggs myself so far this year. I never had any problems until the last 2 times I ate them. Both times, I got sick within an hour of eating them. I had a burning sensation in my stomach, vomiting and watery diarhea. (I know, tmi) Sorry. The first time, i thought I had food poisoning, but then a week later it happened again, shortly after eating duck eggs again. Both times, my family ate the same eggs and had no problems. I've read that a food allergy/intolerance to duck eggs can cause these symptoms, but does anyone know if it can present itself after eating nearly a dozen eggs with no big problem?

 

[CarleeAnn]

How long did the symptoms last? How were the duck eggs prepared? Does your family routinely eat the eggs too?

 

[TeeMom]

It seems that this would be an odd allergy, but technically anyone can develop an allergy to anything at any time, no matter the exposure. It's certainly a possibility, but could also be completely coincidental.

 

[KLoudon81]

We've eaten them on and off since Februrary. The first dozen we bought from a local farmer to help us decide if we wanted to raise ducks or chickens. Everything went fine with those. Our ducks started laying about a month or so ago. We've eaten several of them and gave some away. So far we havn't gotten about complaints ::: knock on wood::: and everyone seems to be loving them. Sometimes we wash them and store them in the fridge right away and other times we don't wash them immediately and keep them in a large bowl on the counter since the bloom should be keeping them fresh according to everything we've read. We usually only eat eggs about once a week. The first time i got sick, they were scrambled well done. The second time i got sick, they were hard boiled (1 dozen for around an hour) then made into chicken and egg salad. Part of me wants to eat them again to see if it happens again and the other part me wants to never eat them again for fear of getting so sick again. =/

 

[CarleeAnn]

I wouldn't count the first dozen eggs since they weren't from your duck. And it is strange that you were the only one to get sick! I was going to say it could've been something in the egg salad, but it doesn't seem likely. I'm no doctor so no way to tell if it's an allergy or not but that does seem likely- I'm sure they could test for it if you bring them an egg! Crazy idea; maybe it's one duck egg in particular, like a specific protein that one makes that the others don't. Perhaps you could bring an egg from each duck and maybe you will be able to enjoy the other ducks' eggs!

 

[Backyard Bounty]

I have heard of duck egg intolerance before. Google it - pretty sure you'll find other people saying the same thing. I had a friend who always kept ducks and chickens - but could never eat the duck eggs as they made him very ill.

 

[jofanx]

It's possible you have a duck egg allergy but also possible you're allergic to something the duck ate that gets passed onto the egg. You could buy duck eggs again and see if you're allergic to eggs not from your flock but don't know if you want to go through that again. If not, then your flock is eating something you're allergic to.

 

[CarleeAnn]

It's possible you have a duck egg allergy but also possible you're allergic to something the duck ate that gets passed onto the egg. You could buy duck eggs again and see if you're allergic to eggs not from your flock but don't know if you want to go through that again. If not, then your flock is eating something you're allergic to.

I think this is a likely possibility, more so than my single duck egg theory. Have the ducks themselves changed diet in the last two batch of eggs at all? Do you know of any plants that you may be allergic to that your family is not? Maybe you could observe your flock for a day and see if they lead you to the source and it could be removed!

 

[buggymuffin]

Were the eggs that made you sick washed before using? They should be fine stored on the counter, but I would still wash them before cracking to make sure any bacteria on the shell didn't get into my food.

 

[KLoudon81]

Sorry it took me so long to get back. Yes, the eggs were washed prior using them. We use the egg cleaning products that can be purchased at Tractor Supply Company.
Their feed is the same. Sometimes we will give them mealworms, peas, kale or cabbage for a treat. It's hard to tell which eggs may have been affected by what foods though, especially because they find plenty of worms, grubs, slugs, roaches, cicadas and who knows whet else in threir duck run.