Muscovy laying eggs- advice needed

[rudyard]

Hi Folks,

My duck hasn't been sleeping in her box at night, looked under a tarp and there are 10 scattered eggs. Little sneak! So some questions-

Can I just remove all the eggs? Or should I supply her with fake eggs and let her go through her cycle? (With pigeons you have to replace the eggs, it seems with chickens you just take the eggs)

My house is really cool and probably stays in the high 50s, low 60s. How long can eggs stay out before they go bad? Does the float test work, like with chicken eggs?

How long do you boil one of those eggs for a soft-boiled egg?
Thanks!

-Rudy

 

[Canadian Wind]

Has she been sitting them? Muscovies are notoriously broody, and she may not appreciate you removing the eggs and will continue to sit on nothing, or lay more and sit those.

If there's no chick development, and they are clean, the eggs should be good still. After all, it's only in North America that we wash and refrigerate our eggs, everywhere else just keep them at room temperature.

As for boiling to soft, no idea! They're great for baking, though.

 

[bhaugh]

If she has been sitting on them, I would Not eat them. Too risky. If you pull the eggs and destroy the nest it's a 50-50 it will break her from setting. But watch out they can get pretty mean and hold a grudge. I don't support sitting on fake eggs because it leads to poor condition of the bird. So either give her a couple fertile ones or destroy the nest.