Egg found at bottom of duck pool OK to eat?

[Sunny Side Up]

As I was draining the ducks' kiddy pool today I found an egg at the bottom. I'm not sure how old it is, because I only drain this pool every 2-3 days. But it's not cracked and was not floating.

Do you think it's still safe to eat? I'm not worried about the lack of refrigeration, but the immersion in the poopy water. Would bacteria get in through the shell? Does the waxy coating help prevent that?

I just hate to waste food, especially home-grown...

The ducks have only begun laying, and I've never before found an egg in the pool. Should I do something to prevent this from becoming a habit? I used to shut them up in their duck house overnight, but lately I've been letting them stay out in their pen. Usually I find the eggs in the house or around the side of the pool.

I appreciate your imput, thank you!

 

[Guitartists]

Considering that eggs are porous, I think I'd let that one go

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I would never eat a submerged egg, especially not one from a duck pool. I might wash the egg and feed the shell back to the duck, but that is the most I'd recommend for not wasting it entirely.

Sometimes when they first begin to lay, I don't think they know what exactly is going on and this could be an accident, but if the duck does this regularly, you will want to restrict access to the pool in the mornings, until she learns better hygiene.

I know, I've had it happen too.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Well, that's about what I figured, but I thought I'd ask anyway. And the egg won't be totally wasted since I'll either bury it under a bush or put it in the compost pile. That's the way food goes here: first to humans, if unfit for us then to the chickens, if unfit for the chickens or the feeder mice then to the compost pile. Only the few things that don't even rate composting are thrown away.

I have 5 hen ducks who are just beginning to lay. This morning was the first time we found 4 eggs in the pen -- one of them was huge! -- and then this one in the pool. So perhaps it was someone's first attempt, and she just couldn't hold it until she got out of the pool. Or she thought she had to poop and didn't realize it was really an egg.

I'll watch for any more in the pool, and if they continue, I'll confine them to their house overnight.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

After I found another egg at the bottom of the pool I began shutting the ducks into their duck house overnight. Today I found 6 eggs in the corner -- from 5 duck hens! What do you think, could someone have laid 2 or did I just miss collecting one on another morning?