My Love Affair With Ducks...

[WannaBeHillBilly]

So in the past few days I’ve noticed the girls doing a new quack. Anytime I look in the dog houses with straw or go into the coop (looking for eggs that aren’t there) they all start up with this weird short quack. Makes me think of the kiddie carnival spaceship rides but they seem all fussy at me then I walk away and they stop... @Mimi13 or @WannaBeHillBilly do yours do this? Also, if they aren’t even touching the oyster shell is there a chance they may just not like it and I need to try a different brand?

Without a really long video of that "new quack" i cannot tell you what it is about. And i am pretty fluent in Duck by now…
The oyster-shells - don't be worried, they will know when they need those. Usually within one to two weeks after starting to lay, they will start consuming the extra calcium. It also helps to offer oyster shells to ducklings. (Yes, start screaming at me y'all!) Both times when my ducks had their own babies in the duck house, the younglings started to eat oyster shells, following mom's example when they were less than one week old. They all survived, even the drakelings.

 

[Mimi13]

So I just had to take professional portraits of my new babies’ eggs!

Petey’s egg from this morning fits nicely in the duck egg carton; however, it sticks out of the chicken egg carton like a sore thumb!

These are all duck eggs that I’ve put in a chicken egg carton, because they didn’t fit into the duck one yet. Petey changed that today! I’ve got enough now to bake two of my sour cream pound cakes. They are scrumptious even using 6 chicken eggs, so I can’t wait to taste one using duck eggs.

Now since Petey is laying good sized duck eggs, I’ve got to learn the conversion of chicken to duck eggs for recipes. I’ve been using the same 1:1 ratio since the duck eggs were about the same size as chicken eggs. I figure Hershey’s two little eggs and Petey’s one big egg should equal 3 regular chicken eggs.

BTW, Petey laid her first egg on 8/1 and has laid an egg every day since except one. Here’s my BYC calendar where I mark the number of eggs I receive each day. I started marking the duck eggs in the upper right hand corner of each day. So far 8/5 is the only day she hasn’t laid. But now that I think about it, there may have been one or two other days she didn’t lay and Hershey did. Yeah, I’m pretty sure there were 3 days she didn’t lay. My mind, dear lord! I CRS anymore!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

…
And as far as the oyster shell goes, they should begin eating it (when they need it.) To begin with I don’t think they need it, but as time goes on they will. And something I have found out is not only is their shells hard as a rock, the membrane is as tough as nails too. It’s really difficult to break into the things. I feel sorry for those little ducklings trying to free themselves during a hatch.

My wife once broke a porcelain bowl with a nice green egg from one of our indian runners. The smaller, green eggs are the toughest here.

 

[Mimi13]

My wife once broke a porcelain bowl with a nice green egg from one of our indian runners. The smaller, green eggs are the toughest here.

Oh my word! Thanks for the heads up on that. I would croak! I usually just crack the eggs on my glass cutting board thingy. But the duck eggs are definitely much harder to crack.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

This morning I found a WHOPPER in the so-called “nest!” Literally!
View attachment 2301200

It is kind of hard to see, but today Petey’s egg weighed 3.77 oz. One ounce is a huge difference in weight from one day to the next, I think!

This picture is of Petey’s last four day’s worth of eggs...and Hershey’s little blue/green egg is over 2 oz less. (Her egg looks green in the picture, but blue in person.) But goodness gracious, the difference in Petey’s and Hershey’s size is huge. I need to weigh both of them.
View attachment 2301201

Anyway, this was such a big shock to me so I had to share.

The record here stands at 115 grams, that is 4.05 ounces. A triple yolk egg, laid by Blanca Duck who was observed having a rather silly walk on that day…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

This morning I found a WHOPPER in the so-called “nest!” Literally!
View attachment 2301200

It is kind of hard to see, but today Petey’s egg weighed 3.77 oz. One ounce is a huge difference in weight from one day to the next, I think!

This picture is of Petey’s last four day’s worth of eggs...and Hershey’s little blue/green egg is over 2 oz less. (Her egg looks green in the picture, but blue in person.) But goodness gracious, the difference in Petey’s and Hershey’s size is huge. I need to weigh both of them.
View attachment 2301201

Anyway, this was such a big shock to me so I had to share.

Talking about first eggs, but first let me introducing the newest member of the »laying sisters«, Misty Duck:

Misty laid her first egg on Thursday, here is a comparison of a normal sized Runner duck egg (left), an egg from the white panzer squadron (middle) and Misty's first one:

That egg weights a whopping 20 grams, i guess that is an interesting product for "Weight Watchers international"…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

So I just had to take professional portraits of my new babies’ eggs!

Petey’s egg from this morning fits nicely in the duck egg carton; however, it sticks out of the chicken egg carton like a sore thumb!
View attachment 2301323

These are all duck eggs that I’ve put in a chicken egg carton, because they didn’t fit into the duck one yet. Petey changed that today! I’ve got enough now to bake two of my sour cream pound cakes. They are scrumptious even using 6 chicken eggs, so I can’t wait to taste one using duck eggs. View attachment 2301318

Now since Petey is laying good sized duck eggs, I’ve got to learn the conversion of chicken to duck eggs for recipes. I’ve been using the same 1:1 ratio since the duck eggs were about the same size as chicken eggs. I figure Hershey’s two little eggs and Petey’s one big egg should equal 3 regular chicken eggs.

BTW, Petey laid her first egg on 8/1 and has laid an egg every day since except one. Here’s my BYC calendar where I mark the number of eggs I receive each day. I started marking the duck eggs in the upper right hand corner of each day. So far 8/5 is the only day she hasn’t laid. But now that I think about it, there may have been one or two other days she didn’t lay and Hershey did. Yeah, I’m pretty sure there were 3 days she didn’t lay. My mind, dear lord! I CRS anymore!View attachment 2301342

I have 18 »laying sisters« and i collect between 10 to 15 eggs per day, with two ducks definitely not laying now due to a hard mold - those poor girls look like they've fallen into a plucker and forbade any photos. So there is not one egg per day per duck , it is closer to 0.8 eggs per day per duck over the long run.

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

I was going to start as thread on Damn Ugly Molts but one of my girls looked so so so bad I thought I'd get told I wasn't looking after them properly.

Yes.

That bad !

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I was going to start as thread on Damn Ugly Molts but one of my girls looked so so so bad I thought I'd get told I wasn't looking after them properly.

Yes.

That bad !

I know what you're talking about: Grumpy ducks with, what looks like, broken feathers and bald spots. And boy are they grumpy!!!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Oh my word! Thanks for the heads up on that. I would croak! I usually just crack the eggs on my glass cutting board thingy. But the duck eggs are definitely much harder to crack.

My wife didn't croak, she cursed that it made the ducks blush!