Duck Eggs v Hen Eggs

When I worked on a farm, duck eggs were half the price of hen eggs. Recently I saw them in in a supermarket and the duck eggs were twice the price of hen eggs. Duck eggs are bigger but not that big. If you like duck eggs then it would be sensible to keep ducks, they can't cost twice as much to keep.

 

I wouldn't have thought they do or that they eat much differently from chucks,

 

Absolutely no idea but do they lay as heavily as chickens?

 

My parents had a small farm in Ohio, where I grew up. We had chickens, ducks, and geese. They lay a little less than chickens, but again the eggs are larger. But duck eggs have a stronger flavor than chicken eggs. As I recall, not a bad stronger, just stronger egg flavor, and there was a different smell to them.
You could not bake with them because of the flavor effecting the product.
Ducks eat the same stuff as chickens, the cracked corn and there is a mash I fed them. But they love the water, naturally and want a creek, stream, pond to drink and play. Or a huge baby swimming pool.
If you hatch them yourself, they will imprint on you like white on rice. I had 28 of them following me one season, all over the farm.
Geese by the way are good watch dogs. No one comes on the property they don't announce and will attack them. They can be mean to even the owners. But kinda fun to have, if you just respect them.

 

The right breed of ducks can be phenomenal layers, almost as good as chickens. The eggs are bigger, so ideal for omlettes/scrambled eggs. They're also richer and some people say they taste a lot better.

As for looking after them, well...the jury is out on that one. Its possible to keep chickens in a small town garden and still give them a good quality of life. Duck on the other hand need a lot more space and water (its why they're called waterfowl!). At the very least they need plentiful clean water every day to dunk heads in to prevent their eyes getting diseases. Ideally, they need a pond and if you're looking to breed, then they find mating so much easier on water! Add to that, they can turn the average garden into a quagmire with their foraging and droppings and they almost never go to bed on their own without much hassling and rounding up.

That said, if we had a paddock or decent sized space, with room to create a pond (and the equipment to keep it clean) then I'd love to keep ducks. They are a lot less prone to diseases that chickens can catch.

No idea why their eggs are more expensive though. Novelty value?

 

I go for Cadburys Cream if I,m honest

 

I did not mention above, but my parents farm in Ohio has a nice slow moving creek running through it.
And of course the fowl enjoyed it. And regarding the mating in the water, well I saw plenty of it happening on dry land, so not sure the water was necessary.

 

For the heavier breeds it is.

I think the best description I heard came from a friend who has a duck farm not far from us-
"ducks need water to wash their heads and eyes, they love water to swim and play in." A tub of water, replace everyday is far better than a muddy pond cleaned out once a month.

Redstar, your parents ducks sound like they had ideal conditions!

 

Yes it was nice, and nice growing up there.

 

Do the same requirements for water stretch to Indian Runner ducks and the like - those that spend most of their time on land?

Steve

 

Yes, all ducks need water to keep clean, especially their eyes, even if its just a bucket of (clean) water. But there's nothing like watching ducks splashing around on a pond and enjoying themselves.

Beware though, ducks will turn the average garden into a mud bath within days and their droppings are VERY messy.

 

I keep poultry and waterfowl and have done for many years. The reason duck eggs are more expensive to buy is that the shells are porous so there shelf life is only 7 days.

You can keep ducks quite easily and as Sussex says they just need access to water. A washing up bowl is good enough as long as they can get there heads under the water. It keeps not only their eyes clean but also their noses that get bunged up!

 

I would love a couple of ducks and we do have a pond, and a small stream, but my husband won't agree to us having them, but i keep trying to persude him, maybe i still buy them anyway and suffer the consequeces. i think they are beautiful but concerned about them turning the garden into a mud bath as sussex gardener says. Isn't the droppings good as a ferterliser? and could anyone tell me would they destroy my plants? and would they peck at the pond liner?

 

Sorry, but they will turn your garden into a mud bath very quickly! Ducks don't scratch lke chickens do, but they dipple (right word?) with their beaks, turns the soil over, trample plants in their search for slugs and worms and their droppings are very, very messy. And yes, they will puncture the pond liner with their feet.

Could you fence off an area in the garden for them, near the stream so they have access to water but don't trash the whole garden. I know the idea of ducks wandering around the garden sounds lovely, but unless the space is huge they'll reduce it to a quagmire in weeks and eat/trample all your plants...which as a gardener isn't ideal really! Not so bad in summer when there is (technically) less rain, but come winter, squelching through mud to look after them is no fun. Contrary to public belief, muddy conditions for ducks isn't good for them.

If you want poultry, why not a trio of decorative bantams, which will look a lot more pretty and be a lot less messy?

 

We used to keep ducks on our smallholding and it was great to see them marching up the field to accept snails thrown over by neighbours. The reason why we got rid of them was the bird flu scare - we could keep all our chickens penned in and provide a good quality of life for them but I wouldn't want to deny ducks the right to wander.

Egg-wise they were great, they generally lay their eggs early in the morning before they were let out whereas the chickens lay at any time of day, anywhere they want to.