Eggs and more eggs

 Good morning, and welcome back!

      

I am starting to become overwhelmed with eggs, and the only way I know how to use them up other than selling them is to eat them.  So today I pulled out the good old cook book my Mom made us so we could always have our favorites long after she is gone.  And no my Mom is still around and I still call her when I start baking cause it's nicer to hear her tell me how to, than read it and guess what question she chooses to laugh at today..... 

    Today the question was... I needed 2 cups of milk and well I only had 1 3/4 cups, what do I do?? And it was simple, just add a little water when I was only that short.  So now I have everything all mixed up and popped into the oven.  Can't wait to taste it. 

    Bryan (my loving partner) will eat anything he says, until I started the duck thing lol.  Can you believe that I can't get him to eat duck eggs.  Well that was until I started baking with them.  He always says that "I have chickens and I will eat those eggs, you can sell the duck eggs." 

    He ate duck egg custard today and he loved it. He said there is no way those were duck eggs, it tastes the same as it normally does. Well that proved my point to him, and I guess to anyone else that has ever had a doubt.  They are creamier, and they make your baking lighter and fluffy.  

    Some nutritional facts about duck eggs vs chicken eggs - 

                    Duck Eggs       Chicken Eggs

                    130 Calories                                78 Calories

                                      9 gm protein                                5 gm protein

                                      9.6 gm fat                                   5 gm fat

                                      2.5 gm saturated fat                   1.6 gm saturated fat

                                  higher in essential vitamins

                                  and minerals   

Washed vs Unwashed Eggs

Washed eggs need to be refrigerated or eaten within 2 hours. If refrigerated they are good for 3 months

Unwashed eggs are good for 3 weeks left at room temperature. Or 3 months if refrigerated. 

Washed or not, once the eggs have been refrigerated they should not be kept out of the fridge for more than 2 hours. The reason being is that a cold egg left out at room temperature will sweat and increase the growth of bacteria.

So when a hen is laying her eggs her body deposits a protective coating on the egg shell. This is call the egg bloom. The bloom seals the egg shell pores to prevent bacteria from getting inside the egg shell. It also helps reduce moisture loss so the egg last longer and remains fresh. When washing the eggs this then removes the bloom.

Some say that due to removing the bloom when washed makes the egg taste not as fresh as an unwashed egg even if they are the same age.

And lastly I would like to share how to know if you have fresh eggs. The best way to test this, and it works for all kinds of eggs - is the water test.  How this is done is fill a glass with water. Place an egg in and watch it drop to the bottom - this is a fresh egg. If your egg floats in the middle of the glass its 2-3 weeks old and they make great hard boiled eggs. Now if your egg floats to the top - toss that baby out! That is an egg past its prime and should not be eaten.

Well this concludes my post about eggs. I hope it helps you and is a guide to helping you choose they type of eggs you prefer and how to store and test your eggs at home. 

Callie, Izzy, Alex, Phoebe, and Rachel hope you have a great day and enjoy a duck egg today!!

Welcome to Our Farm

I would like to introduce myself, my name is Katie. I am a mom, a sister and a daughter. I live with an amazing man that helps make my dreams come true and together we have 5 children, 6 grandchildren and 2 grand puppies.

When I moved onto the farm he raised veal calves and a hand full of chickens. Oh and lets not forget the roosters 🐓 lol. Living on a farm isn't new to me. I grew up on a hobby farm where we had a pig, cow and chickens. But mostly horses. So just having calves and cash crops wasn't enough for me I thought we should add more animals.  Well I got shot down with every suggestion until I thought I would like to have a duck. 

 Well to my surprise one day last April I was asked if I would like to go for a ride.  I of course said count me in where are we going?? Well lets just say it was the beginning to my addiction.  He took me to get a duck.... but the first thing I learned about ducks is that they don't or won't just sell you one.  That day I became the proud owner to 3 adorable 3 day old Indian Runner ducks.  I held them on my lap all the way home, while taking one at a time out of the box to cuddle them.  It hit me half way home that I am now a duck mama and my babies need names.  Now what route should I go? Normal names? Weird animal names? And the whole way home as I am talking to my new babies, and not really knowing what sex they were I hear my side kick telling me that they are ducks, you are making a big deal about nothing.  Well let me tell you - they are not nothing, they are my babies and they will be named and loved like no other duck!

So as a new duck mama I was not prepared for them.  Brooder box - well they were in a box so that would work till I found something bigger. They needed feed and water. I got that covered on our drive home. Remember I didn't know I was getting them so I didn't know I needed a place for them when I got home.  So I can sweet talk when I need to, and I needed to cause there was no way I was going to let these sweet little babies sleep in the barn alone. Heck no they stayed in the house for a week. I found a tote and made it into a home for them. Once I felt that they would be ok in the shop I agreed to move them.

 On our way home 

Izzie, Callie and Karev

 Settled into their tote

I couldn't stop thinking about ducks and I was dreaming about them and there were mornings that I was afraid to go the the shop just in case they were not dreams and  I had really taken over Farmer's workshop. My dream was to start breeding and raising ducks. That dream is still a dream but I work towards it every day.  So I started doing research, buying books and I joined groups on facebook so I could learn more.  

My family and a few friends (who am I kidding all of my friends) make fun of me and my Duck Empire. Well to have an empire I needed more ducks.... so I searched all the groups that I joined and well I found 3 more ducklings that needed new homes and I had an opening so they moved in 2 days later 😂

The second trio to join our farm

Phoebe, Rachel and Chandler

You can only imagine how excited I was, I was on my way to an Empire.  The only problem was that all 6 of my babies were just that babies.  I now have to wait for them to get bigger and old enough to lay eggs so my Empire can grow.  So fast forward, we are now in January 2024 and the eggs are coming faster than I was prepared for.  Yes I knew that I would get at least one egg per day from my babies, but I guess I wasn't prepared  to know what I was going to do with them all.  I know that I wanted to hatch them, and I also wanted to sell the eggs.  Now I feel a bit overwhelmed with the amount of eggs I have and the timing of them starting to lay.  

I have my first test batch in the incubator (12) and I have dozens for sale.  This is all a learning curve for me, and I am trying to get it organized before I feel like I'm sinking in eggs.

Incubated eggs waiting to hatch

I hope that you enjoy following my journey with all the ups and downs of being a Duck Mama 🦆🥚

I will try and explain what and why I  do the things I do around here. This is a learning experience for me and I hope it brings some light to others that may want to start their own Empire of ducks 🦆 or chickens 🐔 or goats 🐐....LOL  I am far from an expert, I just love ❤️  animals and want to raise them the best way I know how.