My Love Affair With Ducks...

[WannaBeHillBilly]

we get to pet Piper, a WH that @Magnolia Ducks gave us. She hurt her foot a couple days ago and is in my dog crate about 6 feet from me right now. Daily water therapy, poultry spray, and peas are making her better. She even ate peas out of my hand tonight. I don’t she will be as friendly once she gets back to the flock. This duck is so pretty and big. I do not understand how this breed came from K/C but from what I have read that’s how they came about. This is the 5th time we have dog crated ducks in the house since we got into it almost 2 years ago.

Depending on how long she will be with you in the house, you both will develop a stronger relationship! Limpy was in the house only for a few days, but we cared for him multiple times per day. Today he is still the only duck who won't yell »Axe Murderer« when i pick him up. - Correction: Bazilla Duck also "endures" being picked up, since her heat-stroke last summer.
All other ducks yell out of the top of their lungs when i hold them, they ell everything from »axe murderer« to »cereal killer«!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

At first glance I thought you were talking about my Ralphie and I thought Nooooooooo!!!! Not yet, anyway!

According to @duluthralphie somebody must already have applied heat and pressure to turn him into a "Ralphie Dux"! - Maybe in the hatchery?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

And for my huge announcement this morning! Can anyone guess???????


And I never would have known if Petey had not been hurt. I usually just open their door and they come running out, literally! However, Petey stayed in their little house and I immediately went in to see what was wrong. (She is also silent — she’s never been silent! Never!!!)

Once I went in to check her, I had to curb my excitement cause I had to check on my hurt duck. Yesssssss! I got my first duck egg this morning. There it laid in the straw...along with the nightly poops!

Oh, it’s just like my first baby! Not really, but y’all get it!View attachment 2271634

The shell was very “waxy” feeling. No chalkiness like a lot of my chicken eggs. It was a mottled greenish color. I have no idea which of my babies laid it. I wish I knew.View attachment 2271518

1.99 ounces — Almost 2 oz. In the kitchen, the color really looks different, almost brown. Isn’t that amazing?View attachment 2271519

Here is the duck egg alongside one of my chicken eggs. It is almost the same size as the chicken egg, but it is about half the weight. I know it’ll continue to get larger. Right now, it is the equivalent of a pullet egg. View attachment 2271520

The shell was a bit harder to crack than my chicken eggs. The thick albumen was a lot thicker and the thin albumen was a lot thinner. And the yolk was a bit more orange and darker, it seems anyway. Oh, and it was not fertile.View attachment 2271637

Chicken egg on top, duck egg on bottom.View attachment 2271638

Now for the taste...I tasted the chicken egg first, then the duck egg. The duck egg was much, much creamier. That was instantly detectable. However, it also had a blander taste, to both DH and me. Will the taste get stronger as the ducks mature?

Either way, I’m excited for my first egg.

I bet one dozen eggs that this is Peteys first egg and that it is the reason why she wasn't walking out of the house this morning! - I had several ducks who weren't willing or able to walk or walked somewhat funny on the mornings i found little first-time eggs in the Duck house. I have a video of Curiosity duck, moaning and whining while she is laying her first egg. And most of the day she was just sitting somewhere and walked like she was wearing a diaper between her legs.
It is only the first few eggs that may cause those difficulties and it happens only to few ducks.

As for the egg itself: CONGRATULATIONS!
In a very short time you will stop eating any other eggs but Dux-Eggs!

They will become larger, the average weight of my duck's eggs is around 85 grams (almost 3oz). And it is the same with duck-eggs as with chicken eggs: It all depends on what the birds eat. During spring this year, my ducks were decimating the local frog, toad and newt population and my wife is convinced the boiled eggs had a fishy taste. I didn't taste any difference through.
What i have observed is that feeding vegetables with a lot of carotenoids will change the color of the yolks to almost orange. - It will also change the color of their bills, legs and feet to more orange, but that will disappear if you stop feeding those veggies.
Talking about red-cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, carrots (my ducks hate them!), bananas, sweet potatoes (cooked!), watermelons, cantaloupe, marigold, dandelion leaves and flowers, echinacea, …
Last year i hit the jackpot at the local Kroger, when they wanted to throw out a whole box of red-cabbage because it was "spoiled" - in fact only the first two leaf-layers were spoiled, the inside of the heads was still good - so Duckies had shredded red-cabbage for dinner over the whole winter. Lot's of yellow to orange bills, legs and feet and plenty of yummy eggs.

If i let out my ducks before 9am, i will have an easter-egg hunt on that day, it seems ducks lay their eggs much later in the day than for example xicken.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

It seemed bland. Maybe I was just trying to hard to find something different, I dunno! Or maybe they’ll get stronger tasting as the ducks age.

The taste will become stronger as the ducks mature and the eggs grow in size. The first egg of a duck is made to convince you that there is no different taste between dux and xicken eggs…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I looked really good at it and only saw a very large dot. In the picture, I will agree, it looks like I see a part of a ring, but I really don’t think a bullseye is there. I definitely will be checking every egg.

Definitely fertile! - But i would not incubate any egg before 3-4 months into the egg-laying.

 

[Mimi13]

it seems ducks lay their eggs much later in the day than for example xicken.

Later than 9 am?

i would not incubate any egg before 3-4 months into the egg-laying.

Oh no, I wouldn’t.

 

[Mimi13]

Y’all, here is the thread I posted about Petey’s hurt ankle. I feel so sorry for her as I do not know what to do.
Petey’s Hurt Ankle

 

[Mimi13]

Breaking News . . . . . . . .

Petey is the duck that laid the green egg (remember this phrase) yesterday, because this morning when I got up to take care of her and let all the other crazy creatures out, there was a little greenish egg in the cage with her. She was the culprit after all @WannaBeHillBilly! You called it.

After I fed her some pea and corn ‘soup’ I took her up to the duck lot to put her in the pool, to clean up and get a little water therapy. I kept Romeo Ralphie away from her, bless her heart. I mean, it’s enough having a pain in her foot. She sure doesn’t need a pain her a$$ too! I thought she would enjoy seeing the others, and them, her.

So, the big and brawny, loud mouthed Petey has shown me her other, much softer side. She literally laid in my lap this morning for, oh, about an hour. I just sat there and rocked slowly (I always do this) and rubbed Arnicare Gel, a homeopathic medicine for muscle pain & stiffness, swelling from injuries and bruising, on her leg and then petted her the entire time. She never went to sleep, but she did rest.

Then, when DH woke up and came in the den where we were, I was so anxious to tell him that Petey was the duck that laid the green egg. To which he responded, “Too bad we didn’t get the duck that laid the golden egg!” And then I replied, “Honey, that was a goose. It was a goose that laid the golden egg! Duh!”

I just thought that was a bit funny.

Anyway, I put her back in the crate and fixed us, (DH, me and Petey) some scrambled eggs. She seems comfortable and happy.

My fingers are crossed that the swelling goes down and she gets better very quickly. I am going to call the vet in the morning to see if I can get a dosage amount of Meloxicam for her.

She has been a very good keeper so far in the house. Here she is in her cage snoozing. She props her bill up on her Paw Patrol water bucket. I know this isn’t the best picture, but if I had tried to move to get a better shot, her beady eyes would have locked dead on me.

In addition to her food and water, she does have grit and oyster shell in her cage.

 

[Mimi13]

You’ve got to read this!

Petey would not stop quacking this morning and also was panting like crazy. I finally took her up to the duck lot to put her in the water. She climbed out after a bit and did so well walking, I decided I’d leave her up there for a bit. I went on back to the house and was on the deck rinsing all of the poop off the towels and sheets and heard THE biggest commotion up at the duck lot. The only two ducks I couldn’t see were Ralphie and Petey so I hurried back up there, curious as to what was taking place. By the time I got up there Hershey had joined the other two, probably as curious as I was as to what was going on. They were in the house part and Petey was digging around in the straw. I secretly began videoing, but was seen. I saw nothing really happening so I turned my interest to the four “crowers” all perched together in the chicken run and taking turns crowing. Three were new crowers and one was my 18 month old rooster. They were hilarious.

As I headed back to the house I caught a glimpse of Petey’s booty hole showing (usually completely undetectable) — and she was IN the pool. Yep, that’s what I was thinking, she was about to lay an egg. I hurried into their run to get her out. Right as she climbed out, that egg popped out on the ramp then promptly rolled off onto the ground. Ahhhhhh!!! What?!? I grabbed it up and started to rinse the dirt off in their pool. It was slick and of course I dropped it into the pool. After I fished it off the bottom of the pool I proceeded to go ahead and completely wash all the color off as it was already mostly off by now. Now I have a white egg from Petey, in the fridge. She laid it at 8:12. Third day in a row she has laid.

I’m gonna have to fix their house (bigger waterer mainly) so I can leave them up until at least 9 am.

D@mn ducks! I should have kept her in the cage a bit longer.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Yes

You’ve got to read this!

Petey would not stop quacking this morning and also was panting like crazy. I finally took her up to the duck lot to put her in the water. She climbed out after a bit and did so well walking, I decided I’d leave her up there for a bit. I went on back to the house and was on the deck rinsing all of the poop off the towels and sheets and heard THE biggest commotion up at the duck lot. The only two ducks I couldn’t see were Ralphie and Petey so I hurried back up there, curious as to what was taking place. By the time I got up there Hershey had joined the other two, probably as curious as I was as to what was going on. They were in the house part and Petey was digging around in the straw. I secretly began videoing, but was seen. I saw nothing really happening so I turned my interest to the four “crowers” all perched together in the chicken run and taking turns crowing. Three were new crowers and one was my 18 month old rooster. They were hilarious.

As I headed back to the house I caught a glimpse of Petey’s booty hole showing (usually completely undetectable) — and she was IN the pool. Yep, that’s what I was thinking, she was about to lay an egg. I hurried into their run to get her out. Right as she climbed out, that egg popped out on the ramp then promptly rolled off onto the ground. Ahhhhhh!!! What?!? I grabbed it up and started to rinse the dirt off in their pool. It was slick and of course I dropped it into the pool. After I fished it off the bottom of the pool I proceeded to go ahead and completely wash all the color off as it was already mostly off by now. Now I have a white egg from Petey, in the fridge. She laid it at 8:12. Third day in a row she has laid.

I’m gonna have to fix their house (bigger waterer mainly) so I can leave them up until at least 9 am.

D@mn ducks! I should have kept her in the cage a bit longer.

That noise Petey is making in the video should alert you! - I call it the quack of pleasure! And usually it means something really bad for you is going on, like they have found the entrance to the tomato patch and are lustfully devouring your tomato plants, replace tomato with salad, strawberries, zucchini and …
Whenever i hear a duck making this sound i run out of the house as fast as i can! If i'm lucky they have found just an ant-nest…
I bet another dozen of my duck's eggs that Petey will go broody next spring and this corner will be her duck-burg.

And pool-eggs? Boring!!! I had roll-down-the-hill eggs smashing against the house, rotten egg under the patio, an egg in the waterer, an egg at the bottom of the steps (almost crushed it!) and wait if you get those really poopy eggs after a good day of foraging plenty of insects…
You will develop a steel-stomach within the next year or so…