Hello all,
I have had chickens for a few years but am a first time duck owner and have had them for a year now. I’ve had instances of chickens eating their own eggs which isn’t surprising (bc chickens are chickens) but I caught one of my Pekin’s this morning eating one of my chicken eggs!
Then I started to put all the pieces together… and everything clicked.
There’s been evidence of this going on for weeks (slime on eggs, shortage of eggs) but I was too oblivious to tell. In the past my chickens make a mess but it seems my duck is sneakier.
I usually only visit the coop in the evening time but I have some pullets down in the coop that the ducks and chickens share so I’ve been checking on them first thing. Yesterday I saw my Pekin nesting and was she making a bunch of bumping sounds but I didn’t investigate. This morning I went down and she was doing it again so I looked down there and she’s covered in yolk, not a single shell in site, but she’s trying to break a duck egg(while simultaneously and successfully laying her own egg at the same time). I haven’t had any duck eggs missing they lay pretty consistently so I’m assuming she can’t break those open like she can the chicken eggs.
Anyhoo, my question- ducks eat eggs?? I’ve thrown egg shells to the girls before and my chickens devour them of course but my ducks have never shown an interest. Does this mean she’s not getting enough calcium in her diet? Im sure I can use the same old techniques like I would with a chicken but is this a sign of another issue? Or completely normal?
Tia!
I have had chickens for a few years but am a first time duck owner and have had them for a year now. I’ve had instances of chickens eating their own eggs which isn’t surprising (bc chickens are chickens) but I caught one of my Pekin’s this morning eating one of my chicken eggs!
Then I started to put all the pieces together… and everything clicked.
There’s been evidence of this going on for weeks (slime on eggs, shortage of eggs) but I was too oblivious to tell. In the past my chickens make a mess but it seems my duck is sneakier.
I usually only visit the coop in the evening time but I have some pullets down in the coop that the ducks and chickens share so I’ve been checking on them first thing. Yesterday I saw my Pekin nesting and was she making a bunch of bumping sounds but I didn’t investigate. This morning I went down and she was doing it again so I looked down there and she’s covered in yolk, not a single shell in site, but she’s trying to break a duck egg(while simultaneously and successfully laying her own egg at the same time). I haven’t had any duck eggs missing they lay pretty consistently so I’m assuming she can’t break those open like she can the chicken eggs.
Anyhoo, my question- ducks eat eggs?? I’ve thrown egg shells to the girls before and my chickens devour them of course but my ducks have never shown an interest. Does this mean she’s not getting enough calcium in her diet? Im sure I can use the same old techniques like I would with a chicken but is this a sign of another issue? Or completely normal?
Tia!
