question about cooking with duck eggs...

[crazybarnlady]

I just wondered if this is normal - I know duck eggs have a different consistancy than chicken eggs... if the eggs are two or three weeks old is it normal for the yolk to sort of "gel" , so that you can cut it with the side of a fork and it doesn't run? Are they still good?

inquiring minds want to know! thanks!

 

[GrannyCarol]

I've had perfectly fresh duck eggs where the yolk will hold up to a fork, so I wouldn't worry. If the egg is getting too dry the white will get thick too. I probably wouldn't use that one, because the texture isn't right. I'd look for off odors to determine if an egg isn't nice enough to cook with. If I were using it raw, I'd want it nice and fresh and from an egg that didn't need anything washed off of it. Your older egg wouldn't be my first choice for eating as an egg rather than baking though.

 

[crazybarnlady]

thanks!

 

[newbyduckmom]

Since someone raised the question about normal duck eggs, our hen just started laying a week ago. When I crack our duck eggs, the white separates from the yolk (yolk falls first) and white stays connected to shell and takes several seconds to separate into bowl. Is this normal or do we have something odd going on? Also, her eggs are quite small about size of chicken egg. I know that new layers can have small eggs at first, but not sure at what point you need to address potential nutrition issues???

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
for new layers, I've found eggs usually look normal size within a week, maybe 2, if they're not laying every day yet. nutrition level will affect the size of the eggs on my chickens (I bought some adult layers and their eggs are getting bigger on what I'm feeding them). I expect the same could be true for ducks.
haven't noticed that my duck eggs separate like that, however, they yolks do sit taller and somewhat separate from the whites when cracked onto a plate, and very fresh duck eggs, when hard boiled, can be very hard to peel - the white sticks to the shell. I don't think I'd worry about the yolk pouring out first if they smell and look normal.

 

[crazybarnlady]

yes the slimy egg white thing is normal for duck eggs... I always warn my new duck egg customers about that one- takes a little getting used to when you've only used chicken eggs

I have some very petite runner ducks that lay eggs the same size as chicken eggs, but the other ducks took up to a month to get full size eggs when they started laying. It's also normal to have some odd shaped, smaller, and double size eggs the first little bit, while their plumbing gets things figured out.