i need help!! i have two rouen ducks, under a year old, m/f, they share a coop with one hen. the ducks started mating a short while ago, and now i have my first duck egg(positive it is not a chicken one, bigger and saw the duck nesting on it) im not sure what to do with it, we want to raise it since we have plenty of eggs from the chicken, will it be fertile? the worst part is i live in a cold climate, it is december, about 30 degrees right now, they are all in a coop that has plenty of straw bedding, mostly out of the weather, and there is a heat lamp,,,,PLEASE SOMEONE HELP TELL ME WHAT TO DO NEXT!!! thanks all

-- don (fordsrme@aol.com), December 18, 2001

Answers

Eat it.

Wait for spring to start brooding eggs.

Part of homesteading is being realistic and pragmatic.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), December 19, 2001.

Whether or not to allow eggs to accumulate and then brood them will be somewhat dependent upon where you are located. May be a bad idea for Minn., but not for much of the deep South or West.

If you are sure you have a male and female, then I'd say chances are good the eggs will be fertile.

If you decide to eat the eggs, some find they have a strong favor, but are wonderful when used when a baking recipe calling for eggs.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), December 19, 2001.

We have ducks and eat the eggs all the time. We also live in a cold climate (Central Maine). The good thing about duck eggs is that they lay in the early morning and not all day like our chickens used to. So you can usually get to the eggs before they freeze. I find that I like duck eggs for baking because things seem to be fluffyer (is that a word?). We have 6 female and 2 male ducks and we get 5 to 6 eggs a day. My biggest problem is what to do with all the eggs!!! We can only eat so many. I pickle a bunch and cook them up for the dogs, plus baking and eating. If I send one more egg salad sandwich to work with my husband he will divorce me!

-- Mary R. (cntryfolk@ime.net), December 19, 2001.

We eat and sell our Duck Eggs. There great for baking/ We hatch baby ducks in the Spring. We put them in our Incubator and have little ones in about a month. The kids and Grandkids love to watch them hatch. We live in Upstate NY. Mountain Ashe Acres Farm

-- Gary and Pris (MTASHEACRES@AOL.COM), December 19, 2001.

It's really the wrong time of year to incubate eggs. Why not wait and let the duck sit in the spring if she feels like it? You'd have more grief than pleasure in a hatchling in the wintertime.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), December 19, 2001.

I agree with waiting to let her brood. I had a duck to hatch eggs once in December. She lost them one by one, except for the two I finally stole from her and raised in the house(and that's a messy proposition). She will do much better with them in the spring. Anyway, with the eggs freezing, I doubt she could collect a clutch of good eggs to hatch(mine did it in balmy Central TExas).

-- mary (mlg@aol.com), December 19, 2001.

Mary -

What's your recipe for pickling duck eggs? We also get 5-6 eggs from 6 hens & 1 drake to keep them company. Too many to eat, too few to sell. Don't know yet which way we'll go in the spring - more ducks or fewer.

-- Bonnie (stichart@plix.com), December 20, 2001.