Duck Eggs Making Me Sick?

[kenzietee]

(The post ahead might be a little gross and TMI but you've been warned!)
We started getting our first duck eggs about a month ago. We (my boyfriend and I) ate them scrambled and in baked goods when we first started getting them. No issues whatsoever. Last week, my boyfriend scrambled a few up for breakfast and then was very sick shortly after eating them, about an hour or two later. He was vomiting and had diarrhea for probably six hours, and had really bad stomach pains. I have since then eaten more duck eggs, scrambeled and in banana bread with no issues. However, about three hours ago, we had scrambled duck eggs again. I made sure to cook them extra well done. We have both already been sick from them I'm guessing. I have diarrhea and my boyfriend has vomiting plus diarrhea.
So now here's my question I guess, are we allergic to the eggs or something? Here's a little more background info. My boyfriend is rarely sick to his stomach. Hardly never. I have IBS on the other hand, and am sick usually a few times per week. I have also had salmonella before when I was a kid and the level of sick I am now is a walk in the park compared to that. Is there some other disease or virus that our eggs and birds could have maybe? Our ducks are housed in a clean environment, but I do wash the eggs with warm water when collecting because they tend to be very muddy and poopy, because ducks are just messy. I also refrigerate them immediately after washing. Our ducks also all seem to be very healthy.

 

[sourland]

I have heard others say that they were allergic to duck eggs. I never liked the taste so have little experience with eating them.

 

[PirateGirl]

The makeup of chicken eggs and duck eggs is different, it's possible you have a sensitivity to them.

 

[kenzietee]

I'm not allergic to chicken eggs, but I do know both allergies aren't correlated. I wonder if that's it. I am allergic to a handful of medications, all of which make me sick to my stomach and give me hives. Boyfriend has no allergies so I just thought the odds of both of us being allergic were slim. Is it possible that the eggs cooked into cakes and breads wouldn't give me a reaction?

 

[PirateGirl]

That's partly why I said sensitivity and not allergy. Cooking is chemistry. When things are mixed together and cooked at different temperatures for different lengths of time their chemical makeup can change and the way our body processes/digests them changes. It's possible your body is unable to process the duck eggs when cooked for a short time on their own, but when baked in something for a longer time it breaks down into a form you can digest easily.

 

[kenzietee]

Interesting! Luckily we have two chickens as well so we will have other eggs to eat. We planned to sell the majority of our duck eggs anyways. I think the taste of them is amazing compared to chicken eggs, but if they continue to make us sick they may not be worth it. Guess it's time to experiment a bit more and figure out how we can and can't eat them

 

[Anna Ranieri]

(The post ahead might be a little gross and TMI but you've been warned!)
We started getting our first duck eggs about a month ago. We (my boyfriend and I) ate them scrambled and in baked goods when we first started getting them. No issues whatsoever. Last week, my boyfriend scrambled a few up for breakfast and then was very sick shortly after eating them, about an hour or two later. He was vomiting and had diarrhea for probably six hours, and had really bad stomach pains. I have since then eaten more duck eggs, scrambeled and in banana bread with no issues. However, about three hours ago, we had scrambled duck eggs again. I made sure to cook them extra well done. We have both already been sick from them I'm guessing. I have diarrhea and my boyfriend has vomiting plus diarrhea.
So now here's my question I guess, are we allergic to the eggs or something? Here's a little more background info. My boyfriend is rarely sick to his stomach. Hardly never. I have IBS on the other hand, and am sick usually a few times per week. I have also had salmonella before when I was a kid and the level of sick I am now is a walk in the park compared to that. Is there some other disease or virus that our eggs and birds could have maybe? Our ducks are housed in a clean environment, but I do wash the eggs with warm water when collecting because they tend to be very muddy and poopy, because ducks are just messy. I also refrigerate them immediately after washing. Our ducks also all seem to be very healthy.

Is there a possibility it could be a coincidence and you and your partner have a stomach bug/virus? Reason I'm thinking this is last year my grandson suffered with several bouts of D&S over the space of 3/4 months, we worried he had food allergies or intolerance and seemed to be worse when eating wheat products especially bread, he underwent extensive tests, no allergy or intolerance was found but signs of infection commonly caused by gastroenteritis was found - the specialist told us that there are some strains of gastroenteritis which incubate/hibernate appearing to come and go but in fact is constantly there until the body eradicates the virus - said it can last up to 5 months. Just a thought....

 

[townchicks]

You write that you wash the eggs in warm water. It is possible that you are introducing bacteria through the egg shell, as warm or hot water opens the pores. You might try using cold water, or not washing them until right before use.

 

[kenzietee]

We could possibly just have some sort of stomach flu. He is almost never sick though and I usually only get sick from things I eat. If it doesn't go away by tomorrow then we are off to the doctor though!
Also, with the egg washing. I had been rinsing them in cold water but had read that it is better to use warm because cold water seals the bacteria into the egg. Warm water opens the pores which let's bacteria out. Not sure on the logic behind either, but I figured I would try both method and see if I noticed a difference.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Before you wash them there is a membrane on the outside of the shell that keeps the bacteria off. When you wash them it washed that membrane away allowing the egg to become more porous. I would only use cold water but that is just intuitive to me that warm water would be a better environment for the bad stuff. I have no evidence to back that up.