Saturday 11th February 2017
Duck eggs
Our first two duck eggs of the year! The left hand one is the first and is mucky looking and scratched. It is NOT actually ‘mucky’ however: the colour is from the pigment that is laid down on the shell in its final stages of laying. Why we get this pigment in the first egg of the season we are not sure but you can see how the scratches are revealing the slightly nicer looking ‘cream’ colour underneath!! We imagine that the duck herself left those scratch marks – Muscovy ducks do have VERY sharp claws (designed that way as Muscovies are perching ducks and so need sharp claws to help them cling on!).
MOST domestic ducks are actually descended from the Mallard but not Muscovies – they are descended from ‘tree-climbing’ ducks and so have slightly different environmental needs. Perches are a must for them!
We are not sure whether Banana or Pear laid this egg, we don’t get into their stall before the laying takes place but instead have found the eggs ready and waiting for us.
Interestingly whilst chickens lay every 25/26 hours and therefore don’t lay 7 days a week, ducks take 24 hours to produce each egg and so on the whole they do lay every day. We need to plan what we are going to do with our duck eggs this year. Jack is hoping to use them for her carrot cake and we will want to do some hatching too BUT not too much, especially as we are probably NOT now going to be building a pond in the poultry area. This is because once the Avian Flu lockdown is over and we can let our birds out, there is now a requirement to NOT allow your ducks near open water. Quite how long this restriction will remain in place is unclear but because of this and also because it seems likely that there may now be lockdowns EVERY winter, building a pond no longer seems such a good idea!! Shame really although the latest idea is to maybe put a load of willow trees in the place instead and so develop a mini copse. It will be great for shade for the birds plus provide goat feed and ultimately more firewood!!! !
We are not sure whether Banana or Pear laid this egg, we don’t get into their stall before the laying takes place but instead have found the eggs ready and waiting for us.
Interestingly whilst chickens lay every 25/26 hours and therefore don’t lay 7 days a week, ducks take 24 hours to produce each egg and so on the whole they do lay every day. We need to plan what we are going to do with our duck eggs this year. Jack is hoping to use them for her carrot cake and we will want to do some hatching too BUT not too much, especially as we are probably NOT now going to be building a pond in the poultry area. This is because once the Avian Flu lockdown is over and we can let our birds out, there is now a requirement to NOT allow your ducks near open water. Quite how long this restriction will remain in place is unclear but because of this and also because it seems likely that there may now be lockdowns EVERY winter, building a pond no longer seems such a good idea!! Shame really although the latest idea is to maybe put a load of willow trees in the place instead and so develop a mini copse. It will be great for shade for the birds plus provide goat feed and ultimately more firewood!!! !