Entering the duck-house has become life-threatening dangerous!

Now there's two dragons in there, first Violeta Dragon Duck:
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No idea on how many eggs she is sitting, she defends her nest by biting, scratching and knock-out punches with her wings.

And then there is the even more dangerous Black Dragon. Having savage Viking ancestors in her blood-line she is threatening to swallow everything that comes too close whole:
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Once again, no clue on how many eggs she is sitting and i'm not going to risk limb and life to find out.

Today's egg collection was 15 eggs, which is back to "normal" from eight to ten during the last couple of days, so i assume both dragons have collected their clutch and are now not allowing any other duck to sit on "their" babies.
Though i am not sure about Violeta's nest. During night hours, Violeta Dragon leaves the nest to eat and drink and Tweedledee turns Dragon and sits.
Ducks are complicated… 😵
Beautiful Ducks. The Black is your Black Swedish right? It looks so much like my half Call Duck Black Swedish. Still not sure of the sex of mine but hoping for a girl. She is getting bigger than the Call Ducks since she is only half. Not huge yet though. I saw a beautiful purple band on her wings yesterday while holding her and I didn't know if that was normal or not. She has white on her wings also and her chest, notice as I keep calling her her. Fingers crossed, lol.
 
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How do you feed the soybeans? Dry and raw, soaked and raw or cooked?

The soybeans were prepared for pickup in a tied bag and when we got home we found out why - there was a distinct fungal smell when opened. (We got a 30 kg bag for 10 eur though because normally the guy sells by the ton.)

As we absolutely want to avoid alphatoxins or other nasty stuff (I had a close encounter with cancer, maybe I'm over-cautious because of that but ... better safe than sorry) I washed them, soaked them a bit and roasted them at 250 C in the oven.

Since the ducks are not giving any ducks about them I will probably grind them up and sprinkle over other more popular food.
 
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Today I decided that we have accumulated enough eggs so we can prepare something for breakfast with our overnight visitors (software development crew, usually remote work but sometimes we like to get together).

I was a little worried because I have read many descriptions ranging from "like chicken eggs, only more so" to "the white is leathery unless prepared in some special different ways". Our practical experience was definitely the first, ie. they are simply eggs, no special treatment needed, but very good ones. Good taste, good coloring. We did a simple "sunny side up" dish just to establish a basic starting point.

This is still experimental small scale production - 5 ducks old enough to lay but usually just a single egg per day and yesterday there was unexpectedly one in the afternoon as well - must have been from the same duck that already laid an egg in the morning because the shell was rubber :) The content was fine though.
 
Today I decided that we have accumulated enough eggs so we can prepare something for breakfast with our overnight visitors (software development crew, usually remote work but sometimes we like to get together).

I was a little worried because I have read many descriptions ranging from "like chicken eggs, only more so" to "the white is leathery unless prepared in some special different ways". Our practical experience was definitely the first, ie. they are simply eggs, no special treatment needed, but very good ones. Good taste, good coloring. We did a simple "sunny side up" dish just to establish a basic starting point.

This is still experimental small scale production - 5 ducks old enough to lay but usually just a single egg per day and yesterday there was unexpectedly one in the afternoon as well - must have been from the same duck that already laid an egg in the morning because the shell was rubber :) The content was fine though.
Are you giving any calcium supplement, like oyster shells? If they're starting to lay, they'll be needing this.

I don't find any difference in cooking methods for duck eggs. The yolk is creamier, in my opinion, and tastier. And the duck eggs don't mess with my gut the way chicken eggs do! Even out homegrown chicken eggs make me want to invest in toilet paper manufacturing.
 
Are you giving any calcium supplement, like oyster shells? If they're starting to lay, they'll be needing this.

I don't find any difference in cooking methods for duck eggs. The yolk is creamier, in my opinion, and tastier. And the duck eggs don't mess with my gut the way chicken eggs do! Even out homegrown chicken eggs make me want to invest in toilet paper manufacturing.
I find in our household that if our eggs are not throughly cooked whether it be hard boiled, fried, scrambled, that we get a belly ache from them. At first it was just my Son and then I saw that I was in the same boat. Our friend that I give them too said theirs have to be throughly good also so we are not the only ones like that.
 
The soybeans were prepared for pickup in a tied bag and when we got home we found out why - there was a distinct fungal smell when opened. (We got a 30 kg bag for 10 eur though because normally the guy sells by the ton.)

As we absolutely want to avoid alphatoxins or other nasty stuff (I had a close encounter with cancer, maybe I'm over-cautious because of that but ... better safe than sorry) I washed them, soaked them a bit and roasted them at 250 C in the oven.

Since the ducks are not giving any ducks about them I will probably grind them up and sprinkle over other more popular food.
Once I smelled the fungal smell I would have had to pitch them. That's just me though. I am very strange about what I will eat or not eat. I can't even do any type of shell fish so I know its just me.
 
Are you giving any calcium supplement, like oyster shells? If they're starting to lay, they'll be needing this.

I don't find any difference in cooking methods for duck eggs. The yolk is creamier, in my opinion, and tastier. And the duck eggs don't mess with my gut the way chicken eggs do! Even out homegrown chicken eggs make me want to invest in toilet paper manufacturing.

They have the "complete layer" kind of feed (among other things). Somehow it's not that easy to find calcium supplements individually. Underdeveloped market. I'll look into gardening / agriculture stores, maybe the calcium used for liming the soil could be used. Needs some reading up.

Anyway....

PANIC, ALERT, QUACK QUACK QUACK !!!!
I run out in my underwear in the rain...

... The ducks met a hedgehog :)
 
I find in our household that if our eggs are not throughly cooked whether it be hard boiled, fried, scrambled, that we get a belly ache from them. At first it was just my Son and then I saw that I was in the same boat. Our friend that I give them too said theirs have to be throughly good also so we are not the only ones like that.
Odd, duck eggs I can eat almost raw, chicken eggs I am very sensitive to depending on time of year and have found its inline with seasonal change of feed. I wonder if its something the ducks are eating upsetting your belly?
 
Once I smelled the fungal smell I would have had to pitch them. That's just me though. I am very strange about what I will eat or not eat. I can't even do any type of shell fish so I know its just me.
Not just you. I am like that with salad greens from the shops, deli meats that have been sitting out for more than 5 seconds, leftovers over 12hrs old.... won't cook my own shell fish unless its yabbies or muscles we caught ourselves and I know the water way is good
 
They have the "complete layer" kind of feed (among other things). Somehow it's not that easy to find calcium supplements individually. Underdeveloped market. I'll look into gardening / agriculture stores, maybe the calcium used for liming the soil could be used. Needs some reading up.

Anyway....

PANIC, ALERT, QUACK QUACK QUACK !!!!
I run out in my underwear in the rain...

... The ducks met a hedgehog :)
Next time you see a hedge hog, could you please try takr a photo?
 

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