HOLY DUCK EGG!

[LadyIsadora]

Dang it. But Congratulations on the big egg! My big gal gave me another one. 4.4 Oz ;-) on Wednesday, Now that is the new biggest. I finally ordered my own scale so I can stop running across the road to weigh my precious eggs. LOL

 

[jducour]

Marguerite just gave me her first egg since arriving 2 weeks ago - it is so different from all my other layers! These are my first Pekin eggs - and I'm Eggcited to see how big they get Hers was like a tube, long and skinny. Maybe tomorrow it will be bigger around?

 

[LadyIsadora]

WHOO HOO Marguerite! They do vary is shape & size a lot. I got a very pointy one the other day. Sometimes I get skinny ones and sometimes almost perfectly round.
Today I got another 4.4 oz egg! I dont know what has gotten in to her. Im amazed. thats 3 eggs over 4 oz in one week. She went for a month or so with just regular size. Now she is making up for lost time.

 

[jducour]

WHOO HOO Marguerite! They do vary is shape & size a lot. I got a very pointy one the other day. Sometimes I get skinny ones and sometimes almost perfectly round.
Today I got another 4.4 oz egg! I dont know what has gotten in to her. Im amazed. thats 3 eggs over 4 oz in one week. She went for a month or so with just regular size. Now she is making up for lost time.

I was re-reading Storrey guide for ducks (have you read it yet?) and it mentioned that having feed that is higher in protein can produce very large eggs. Is she eating regular laying feed, or grower feed? I'm curious if it really make s a difference. What is the protein % of her feed?

 

[jducour]

I was re-reading Storrey guide for ducks (have you read it yet?) and it mentioned that having feed that is higher in protein can produce very large eggs. Is she eating regular laying feed, or grower feed? I'm curious if it really make s a difference. What is the protein % of her feed?

I just found it - it's on page 250 -

" 16 to 17 percent is often used, and 18 to 20 percent protein can result in larger eggs. Calcium requirements jumps to 2.3 to 3%

 

[LadyIsadora]

She is currently on 16% but they forage all day. Bugs being very high in protein, maybe there was an influx of buggies in the yard last week. Its possible.

One thing I did notice, they are eating more calcium.
I had a LOT of egg shells set aside to give them when they started laying. I baked or boiled them, crushed them and fed them free choice. when I started running low I mixed them in with the oyster shell stuff from the store. Well they thought that was some sort of desert. Because they would empty the bowl pretty often. I ran out of egg shells so I bought a big bag of Oyster shell at the local IFA . They eat it, but much slower.
Last week I scattered some egg shells over their oyster shell and I have noticed it disappeared much quicker. I dont know if that helped with the giant eggs. No one else in the flock laid huge eggs.

They are back on 20% as of yesterday. Im anticipating colder weather and less buggies available.

 

[jducour]

Ok, I have a new record for my biggest egg - Marguerite laid one today that was 3.2 oz. The are getting bigger every day - so I am excited to see if the more time she spends at our house (pretty spoiled, if you ask me), the bigger they get. I haven't cracked one of hers open yet - I've been out of town. I'm wondering if any are double yolkers?

 

[jducour]

 

[MaureenD]

WOW! I had one like that last week, I am thinking from one of the two WH hens I have. We cracked it open tonight, yup, two yokes. Beauty of an egg.
I was thinking of poking the holes in it to blow the insides out and then spray the shell gold! I would probably blow my brains out with it!
Enjoy!

 

[lynss94]

I have not had another double yoker yet! Still regular sized eggs from my Ollie. So good to see everyone discussing their huge eggs laid by their ducks!