Laying hard boiled eggs???

[whitedove]

Heehee, I think I'd be in the dog house for a bit on that one. But definitely worth it.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

how about a bird with a fever? could the egg actually cook at a low temp for as long as it takes it to form?

 

[Jeepster515]

No tricks by anyone we know. I thought at first it was someone playing a joke, a good one too, but we haven't had anyone come out here in a few days. We live down a long drive way and don't have many neighbors so we ruled out any pranks.

 

[Jeepster515]

chickensducks&agoose :

how about a bird with a fever? could the egg actually cook at a low temp for as long as it takes it to form?

Might be possible. I'll have to check with vet on that. Only thing though is we've gotten about 18 eggs from the 2 and only 2 have been "cooked" Still a fever is a possibility.​

 

[WestKnollAmy]

That is what I was thinking....high temperature duck! But you would think a swim would bring some of that body temp down.
Very interesting.
Gosh, I am glad you didn't sell those and someone try to crack it open for eating or cooking!

 

[krcote]

There was an entire thread on here very recently about this very thing. The woman was CONVINCED her chickens were laying hard boiled eggs. Giant mystery turned out to be a prank. But she fell for it and so haven't you!

 

[Duck_feeder]

An egg needs to reach about 160F for the proteins in the albumin (egg white) to denature ("hard-boil"). A duck would die of a fever long before it reached that temperature.

Another theoretic possibility (assuming it's not a prank) is the eggs are too acidic (acid can cause albumin to denature). However, it's very unlikely that a duck could lay an egg that acidic (albumin is normally slightly alkaline). Also, the acid would have to be added after the egg formed. If the albumin was acidic before the egg formed, it would be able to form! The egg yolk on the other hand is slightly acidic but nowhere near acidic enough to denature the albumin. If it were, you would be able to cook an egg by scrambling it.

An imbalance in electrolytes can denature albumin also (salt concentrations can affect pH or solubility of proteins), but the concentrations required are not possible as it'd most likely kill the duck.

I'm betting on a prank.

 

[Jeepster515]

Quote:
Thanks! At least that's one theory down. It keeps looking like it's a prank, but I just don't know who it would be. We just moved to the area 9 months ago and only know our neighbors a little, but they just seem to be not in the pranking mood. Other than my stepdaughters father nobody else has been here. I guess that's a whole mystery in itself. Who knows, maybe I have a super duck

 

[tia]

Maybe someone set up an early Easter egg hunt and forgot to dye the eggs. : )

 

[Imp]

Hard boiled in a shell?

Imp