How ducks for egg usually kept?

[CLW]

My question is actually more related to food than farming.

Does anyone know how the ducks are kept for the commercially available duck eggs?

Are they free range or cage?

Normally I buy only chicken eggs from "happy chicken" but occasionally I would like to eat some duck eggs.

Just don't want to buy them if the ducks are kept in a cage

[Ron19]

I can't say whether ducks for egg production are kept in cages but do know that many in my area Uttaradit are free range.

They are transported from farm to farm and let loose in rice paddy's to eat the snails in recently harvested paddy's.

Every morning I see one chap on a motorbike carrying 2 or sometimes 3 crates full of duck eggs. He obviously goes 

around collecting from a number of  duck handlers and imagine this is echoed country wide. 

Edit - For each of the past 3 days he has been carrying 4 crates full on his motorbike.

[samuijimmy]

From what I have seen of duck farming,  (in Issan and Songkhla) They usually keep the ducks confined in large fenced (netted) areas at night, and let them loose during the day.. to do as Ron says...

Never seen coped up in individual cages.

 

some where in Issan! 8000 ducks, so we were told!!

 

 

 

[CLW]

Thank you for the replies. The fact that the duck eggs are always a little dirty on the outside confirm this. Quite unlikely if they kept in cages

[Gary A]

I ate nothing but duck eggs for a couple of years. Truthfully, I can't tell the difference from chicken eggs except they are bigger. All my wife's ducks were free range within the confines of our walled in 2.5 rai yard. When they pretty much quit laying, my wife sold them. Now she has MANY free range chickens. The ducks were much less of a bother.

[Speedo1968]

On 5/28/2017 at 9:55 AM, CLW said:

Thank you for the replies. The fact that the duck eggs are always a little dirty on the outside confirm this. Quite unlikely if they kept in cages

 

Ducks would normally go off their legs in cages, however, in certain circumstances they are individually caged.    I have also seen multiple birds in cages in Taiwan.

 

I would be wary of eating duck eggs that look to have been cleaned ( sandpapered ).    As ducks were meant to lay eggs near water or moisture their genetics are such that they put down a waxy cuticle on the outside of the egg.   The cuticle is there for a purpose - it is to keep out moisture etc.

You may also see green or blue tinted eggs, nothing different in these, just like a white or brown chicken egg.

 

The ducks in the picture look to be Tsiaya and / or mule ducks.   Paddy ducks are usually for meat.

Ducks eggs are excellent for making cakes.

 

If you are thinking about keeping them commercially for meat or egg production ( in houses ) remember they are very messy.   They need water deep enough for clearing their nostrils and, washing their eyes ( immune system ) and are susceptible to 2 major diseases in the first few days of life.     For layers you need nest boxes and therefore more space than ducks kept for commercial ( meat ) purposes.

 

Good luck.

[CLW]

 
Ducks would normally go off their legs in cages, however, in certain circumstances they are individually caged.    I have also seen multiple birds in cages in Taiwan.
 
I would be wary of eating duck eggs that look to have been cleaned ( sandpapered ).    As ducks were meant to lay eggs near water or moisture their genetics are such that they put down a waxy cuticle on the outside of the egg.   The cuticle is there for a purpose - it is to keep out moisture etc.
You may also see green or blue tinted eggs, nothing different in these, just like a white or brown chicken egg.
 
The ducks in the picture look to be Tsiaya and / or mule ducks.   Paddy ducks are usually for meat.
Ducks eggs are excellent for making cakes.
 
If you are thinking about keeping them commercially for meat or egg production ( in houses ) remember they are very messy.   They need water deep enough for clearing their nostrils and, washing their eyes ( immune system ) and are susceptible to 2 major diseases in the first few days of life.     For layers you need nest boxes and therefore more space than ducks kept for commercial ( meat ) purposes.
 
Good luck.

Yes, that's what I've heard also. You should never wash any kind of egg with water. Etc

[Gary A]

My wife had a small pond dug for the ducks. Unfortunately it wouldn't hold water. She instead kept a couple of large basins of water for them. Other than having to change the water every day, the ducks seemed happy. She had no boxes for egg laying and the ducks chose different places to lay their eggs. They each always went back to the same places.

[Speedo1968]

Hi Gary A - your'e right you don't need wooden nest boxes and it depends on the number of ducks housed.    Some farms just use cement blocks as nest partitions.    Yes, if given enough choice ducks will always return to the same nest to lay.    Ducks like privacy and are more content if they don't have to fight for a place to lay.     If you are keeping males with the ducks a set laying space helps prevent males raping the females.     A fixed area also prevents accidentally stepping on an egg.

 

Large basins of water are excellent especially if they allow the ducks to dip their heads.

[Gary A]

One of the ducks was a large male Muscovy. He was a big one and was the king of the ducks. The wife also had some turkeys at the time. The big tom turkey made the mistake of attacking the Muscovy. I had thought the tom would kill the duck but that didn't happen. There were always more turkey feathers left on the ground than duck feathers. From the first fight that Muscovy was always after the turkey. The turkey started flying and sitting on top of the garage just to get away.

 

And yes, the basins were big enough that the ducks could fit inside and take a bath flapping their wings like crazy.

[Naam]

On 5/28/2017 at 10:26 AM, Gary A said:

I ate nothing but duck eggs for a couple of years. Truthfully, I can't tell the difference from chicken eggs except they are bigger.

i raised a dozen mallards (day old chicks) in a cage and let them later roam free (lakeside lot Florida). for years i had delicious duck eggs for breakfast. tried several times duck eggs in Thailand. result = YUCK!

[Gary A]

27 minutes ago, Naam said:

i raised a dozen mallards (day old chicks) in a cage and let them later roam free (lakeside lot Florida). for years i had delicious duck eggs for breakfast. tried several times duck eggs in Thailand. result = YUCK!

 

My taste buds must not be that developed. To me, eggs are eggs. My wife says that commercial eggs are not nearly as good. She has seven special chickens especially for the eggs. I'm not sure what kind they are. They are large, heavy, thick bodied, red colored with short stubby tails. They all look exactly the same. They are free range also. The regular range chickens lay much smaller eggs.

Edited May 31, 2017 by Gary A

[Naam]

Just now, Gary A said:

 

My taste buds must not be that developed. To me, eggs are eggs. My wife says that commercial eggs are not nearly as good. She has seven special chickens especially for the eggs. I'm not sure what kind they are. They are large, heavy, thick bodied, red colored with short stubby tails. They all look exactly the same. They are free range also. The regular range chickens lay much smaller eggs.

your wife is right Gary. besides the kind of fowl it's the food that gives eggs a specific good or bad taste.

[grollies]

On 31/05/2017 at 11:27 AM, Gary A said:

 

My taste buds must not be that developed. To me, eggs are eggs. My wife says that commercial eggs are not nearly as good. She has seven special chickens especially for the eggs. I'm not sure what kind they are. They are large, heavy, thick bodied, red colored with short stubby tails. They all look exactly the same. They are free range also. The regular range chickens lay much smaller eggs.

Rhode Island Reds, lovely hens, great layers.

 

Best eggs you'll ever eat.

 

We have 90, wife sells the eggs 100B per tray. Makes a nice little profit.

[CLW]

your wife is right Gary. besides the kind of fowl it's the food that gives eggs a specific good or bad taste.

Sometimes they taste like fish here. Guess that comes from an overdose of fish meal in their diet. Because of that and other reasons whenever it's possible I eat organic or small farm eggs

[Gary A]

Since we have plenty of eggs from the laying hens, the wife rarely bothers to gather the eggs from the range chickens. It appears that most of those chickens are broody and she lets them sit on their eggs. We probably have more than hundred of those pesky, dirty chickens. Her family is always welcome to come over and catch a few for the pot. I call them rubber chickens since they are too tough to eat off the BBQ. She now has some cross bred black chickens. She got a big black skinned rooster from one of her friends and he was busy. Unfortunately the resident rooster killed him. She says the black legged chickens are more tender. ??? Her killer rooster is now gone. One of her relatives wanted him because he was a really tough fighting cock. He nearly killed our neighbors champion fighting cock when that rooster came into his space looking for a fight. She traded him for two peaceful roosters.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Gary A

[grollies]

13 minutes ago, Gary A said:

Since we have plenty of eggs from the laying hens, the wife rarely bothers to gather the eggs from the range chickens. It appears that most of those chickens are broody and she lets them sit on their eggs. We probably have more than hundred of those pesky, dirty chickens. Her family is always welcome to come over and catch a few for the pot. I call them rubber chickens since they are too tough to eat off the BBQ. She now has some cross bred black chickens. She got a big black skinned rooster from one of her friends and he was busy. Unfortunately the resident rooster killed him. She says the black legged chickens are more tender. ??? Her killer rooster is now gone. One of her relatives wanted him because he was a really tough fighting cock. He nearly killed our neighbors champion fighting cock when that rooster came into his space looking for a fight. She traded him for two peaceful roosters.

Gai baan chickens, bloody horrible things. We first got here wifey had 6. 9 months later we had 80+ crapping everywhere, digging up the garden and nicking food out of the kitchen. Breed like mad. Got rid. Agree, taste nasty as well, same with the eggs.

 

If you've got 100 now, I guarantee you'll have double within 6 months.

 

Pen them up and sell them, there's a good market for gai baan chicken meat.

 

Now RIR are lovely. Friendly, great eggs and getting popular with the local farmers here. We had 180 but wife got fed up trying to sell 5-6 trays a day. We had no problem selling half to three different people. A local village co-operative have just started a flock as well.

 

Now she's only doing 2 trays per day and can't keep up with the demand.

 

So.....we just got a RIR rooster given to us. I think he's gay as he hasn't got down to business in two weeks...I think that's why they gave him away....

[Speedo1968]

19 hours ago, Gary A said:

Since we have plenty of eggs from the laying hens, the wife rarely bothers to gather the eggs from the range chickens. It appears that most of those chickens are broody and she lets them sit on their eggs. We probably have more than hundred of those pesky, dirty chickens. Her family is always welcome to come over and catch a few for the pot. I call them rubber chickens since they are too tough to eat off the BBQ. She now has some cross bred black chickens. She got a big black skinned rooster from one of her friends and he was busy. Unfortunately the resident rooster killed him. She says the black legged chickens are more tender. ??? Her killer rooster is now gone. One of her relatives wanted him because he was a really tough fighting cock. He nearly killed our neighbors champion fighting cock when that rooster came into his space looking for a fight. She traded him for two peaceful roosters.

If you have laying ducks that have a male with them you could try using a broody chicken to sit of the ducks eggs ( the fertile ones ) ( dont mix chicken and duck eggs under the same hen ).   You may have to offer the hen a closed area for her to brood the eggs, then, if you are lucky 28 days later - more ducks !

[grollies]

43 minutes ago, Speedo1968 said:

If you have laying ducks that have a male with them you could try using a broody chicken to sit of the ducks eggs ( the fertile ones ) ( dont mix chicken and duck eggs under the same hen ).   You may have to offer the hen a closed area for her to brood the eggs, then, if you are lucky 28 days later - more ducks !

We've the opposite problem. Free range ducks that don't lay, except when they've been covered by the drake. Then they nest up round the pond laying one egg a day. Got shut of 12 a while ago, ate one, 6 left.

 

Just got a RIR rooster that won't get going with the hens we put to him. The RIR are good layers but not at all broody so was going to try a duck or gai baan to incubate.

[Speedo1968]

3 hours ago, grollies said:

We've the opposite problem. Free range ducks that don't lay, except when they've been covered by the drake. Then they nest up round the pond laying one egg a day. Got shut of 12 a while ago, ate one, 6 left.

 

Just got a RIR rooster that won't get going with the hens we put to him. The RIR are good layers but not at all broody so was going to try a duck or gai baan to incubate.

Could be a number of reasons your ducks don't lay.   Rather strange that they only lay once they've mated.    What breed are they, Pekin, Muscovy, Tsaiya ?     What age are they ?   Are they penned up at night with the male ?    A good working male should be able to cover 5 females.

 

If your ducks laid daily you could store the eggs for 2 - 3 days then place under one or two broody hens, if you can get a gai baan to go broody !         It would be a shame  to use ( turn if you can ) an RIR to become broody.     Turning a duck broody is more easy.   Hatching for Pekin is 28 days and 35 days for Muscovy.       Alternatively see if a friendly neighbour has a broody bird for rent / sell - disease risks of course.

 

Male ducks if not raised properly from day one and then not matured properly generally don't work.

I have seen a large farm in Malaysia that made "the fatal error" ( "just as a trial"  they said ) during the first week of rearing.   At maturity the females were so rearing to go it frightened all the males to sitting on top of the nest boxes.  ( Oh, if your're wondering I used to work as a freelance adviser in farming - hence having been able to see such a farm ).

 

As for the rooster that won't work, are you sure he isn't working i.e. you just dont happen to see him working ?    Is he immature ?   If from an outside group maybe he is just plain scared.   Is he old enough ?    Is he overweight ?      Are the hens old enough ?    Are they housed at night ?     Perhaps try housing the male and females together for a 24 hour stretch - no nest boxes ( if he suddenly starts working (( around 20 times a day )) having no nest boxes could be a risk leading to multiple raping of females.    Do you have another male - not nec a RIR you could try then watch the RIR response ?    Sorry, probably not any really useful suggestions, far easier to tell with ducks.

 

Good luck anyway.

[Gary A]

My wife put a duck egg under a turkey. She thought it was funny but it turned out to be rather cruel. That little duck thought he was a turkey and would have nothing to do with the ducks. Turkeys can walk and run very fast and that poor little duck was always struggling to catch up. The turkeys didn't mind that it was a duck.

[Speedo1968]

17 hours ago, Gary A said:

My wife put a duck egg under a turkey. She thought it was funny but it turned out to be rather cruel. That little duck thought he was a turkey and would have nothing to do with the ducks. Turkeys can walk and run very fast and that poor little duck was always struggling to catch up. The turkeys didn't mind that it was a duck.

The need / urge to bonding with ducks is very very strong, its a survival instinct due to them being water fowl.  They will bond with the first thing they see, ( even a rubber boot ), which is why it is better to use a broody duck than a broody hen.  

If one is intent on wanting more ducks from their own stock then don't kill off the broody duck/s you have because they don't lay.

 

Using a broody hen is better than a turkey as they are more social yet, at the same time, more willing to let their brood wander off.

If you already have ducks then the ducklings will eventually migrate towards them.      You should also introduce the ducklings to water from day one or two, even a small tray from the 20 baht shop will do so they can swim.

[Ron19]

 " Paddy ducks are usually for meat. "

 

Yes you are right here but the eggs are collected for sale.

 

[Naam]

On 6/2/2017 at 2:15 PM, Speedo1968 said:

Male ducks if not raised properly from day one and then not matured properly generally don't work.

-bought 12 mallard day chicks,

-raised them without having the faintest idea,

-4 males, 8 females i found out later,

-most of the times when i looked out of the window one of the males was "working" without me showing them how to do it,

-had young ducks umpteen times but they were gone within a week (alligator, fox, racoon, bald eagle),

-3 to 6 eggs every morning at sunrise (if i was faster than the crows).

 

the homeowners association wanted to take me to court (bylaws: three pets maximum). i told them "go ahead and i bankrupt you with a dozen lawsuits!" then there was peace in Dodge City.

[grollies]

On 02/06/2017 at 2:15 PM, Speedo1968 said:

Could be a number of reasons your ducks don't lay.   Rather strange that they only lay once they've mated.    What breed are they, Pekin, Muscovy, Tsaiya ?     What age are they ?   Are they penned up at night with the male ?    A good working male should be able to cover 5 females.

 

If your ducks laid daily you could store the eggs for 2 - 3 days then place under one or two broody hens, if you can get a gai baan to go broody !         It would be a shame  to use ( turn if you can ) an RIR to become broody.     Turning a duck broody is more easy.   Hatching for Pekin is 28 days and 35 days for Muscovy.       Alternatively see if a friendly neighbour has a broody bird for rent / sell - disease risks of course.

 

Male ducks if not raised properly from day one and then not matured properly generally don't work.

I have seen a large farm in Malaysia that made "the fatal error" ( "just as a trial"  they said ) during the first week of rearing.   At maturity the females were so rearing to go it frightened all the males to sitting on top of the nest boxes.  ( Oh, if your're wondering I used to work as a freelance adviser in farming - hence having been able to see such a farm ).

 

As for the rooster that won't work, are you sure he isn't working i.e. you just dont happen to see him working ?    Is he immature ?   If from an outside group maybe he is just plain scared.   Is he old enough ?    Is he overweight ?      Are the hens old enough ?    Are they housed at night ?     Perhaps try housing the male and females together for a 24 hour stretch - no nest boxes ( if he suddenly starts working (( around 20 times a day )) having no nest boxes could be a risk leading to multiple raping of females.    Do you have another male - not nec a RIR you could try then watch the RIR response ?    Sorry, probably not any really useful suggestions, far easier to tell with ducks.

 

Good luck anyway.

There were so many questions here that I had to have a lie down and then a day off.

 

I'm currently having a few Leos and will probably get back to you in a week or so.

[Ron19]

Here is the duck egg picker upper with another 4 crates today