How can you tell it's a DUCK egg?--UPDATE!

[Sunny Side Up]

My Khaki Campbells are about 14 weeks old now. A few days ago I found a large white egg in their pen, but don't know for certain who laid it. On that day I hadn't let the other hens out of their pens, and the egg was too large for any of the bantams, who sometimes flip over the fences, to have laid. The egg is more round than oval, and has a texture to the shell that is more rough than smooth. I thought duck eggs were almost waxy feeling. I haven't yet had the chance to open it, to see what color the yolk is. Are duck eggs' yolks more orange-y than yellow? And since that day, there haven't been any more eggs like that in the duck pen.

What do you think?

 

[Omniskies]

Egg yolk color is based on the diet, I thought. I always checked the difference by a waxy feeling. Shape probably doesn't matter, since duck eggs can be weird shapes just like a chicken's egg.

Eat it

Duck eggs have a different texture than chicken eggs. If you cook it exactly like a chicken egg (or maybe alongside a chicken egg) then you should be able to notice a difference almost immediately.

 

[DuckLady]

If your ducks are laying at 14 weeks, it is still early days yet and they will not have gotten it just right yet.

Duck eggs are usually waxy. The shell seems more translucent and is not a bright white like a chicken or goose egg. They are usually rounder and not ovoid like a chicken egg.
The yolk, as with chicken eggs, just depends on diet.

Congrats!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I'm still unsure as to who laid that egg.

There hasn't been another one like it anywhere in the duck pen. When do ducks lay? I thought it was supposed to be in the "wee smalls", overnight or very early in the AM. These ducks spend the night penned in their little house, but get to roam the yard all day once someone goes out in the AM to open their doors. Could they be laying in the daytime out in the yard?

I don't have that many hens who lay large white eggs, and I don't think that any of them were loose the day I found this egg. I used it today, & the yolk was as yellow as a chicken egg. I didn't fry it separately, I was making French Toast & all the eggs had to go together in the blender.

I hope to be getting more duck eggs soon from my girls!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

The ducks are now 18 weeks old and this morning I found -- for certain!-- our FIRST DUCK EGG!!!

It was a small first-try egg, on the ground by their pool. It was a little mucky, but cleaned off easily because the shell has a definate waxy texture. It was especially noticeable when I tried to write on it with pencil. I always write the dates on the chickens' & the guineas' eggs, but it was difficult to make a mark with pencil on this duck egg.

I still want to know about when ducks lay their eggs. All I've read seems to say that they lay overnight, or in the early morning hours. Is that true?

These ducks, 4 girls & 1 drake, like to spend their days roaming around the yard. I shoo them into their pen each night, but let them out first thing in the morning. I'd like them to get used to laying their eggs in their pen, for easier collection.

How long should I make them stay in their pen before getting released for the day?

The chickens are kept in until 2-3 in the afternoon, so they'll do all their laying in their nest boxes. The guineas lay throughout the day, and I let them out in the morning & hope to find their collective nest somewhere in the yard. They do have a distinctive call they make when they're laying, we've learned to listen for that sound to lead us to their hidden nest. Should I make the ducks stay in their pen part of the day, or do they really do any laying before dawn?

 

[raindrop]

Congrats on the egg! My ducks lay by 8am every day. They seem to shun all the soft, clean nest material I provide and lay in the mud. The eggs have a smoother shell, the shell is much thicker than my chicken eggs. Both the ducks and chickens free range, the ducks have darker yolks and thicker albumin.