Waiting and waiting and waiting and
waiting. That’s what we did for 4 months. We thought they would never lay an
egg. Perhaps they’re all male? Maybe they’re hiding the eggs? Maybe they’re
unhappy? Of course, we thought it was something we were doing wrong, until one chilly
pre-dawn morning, I crept, headlamp, coveralls, boots and all, into their
nesting area and found not one, not two, but three golden eggs! Okay, they were
actually white, but they were golden to us! Our girls were just young-- not
unhappy, not undernourished, and certainly not males.
When
we rushed them inside to sample the new goodies and tapped one on the edge of
the pan, nothing happened. I gave
it a few more good whacks, and finally got a crack thick enough to dig my
finger in to pull the shell apart. Those are some tough shells. If you’ve tried
our chicken eggs, you know those are tough to crack, but these will give you a
workout! The reason they’re so tough is that the fresher an egg is, especially
a duck egg, the thicker the inner membrane (that whitish part that sticks to
the inside of the shell) is. Our ducks are also very healthy and happy, which
strengthens the shell.
But
what do you do with a duck egg? Scrambled, sunny side up, over easy, over
medium, over hard, poached, hard boiled, coddled, omleted, benedicted,
merengued, etc. Anything you can do with a chicken egg, you can do with a duck
egg. But wait, there’s more! Because of the higher albuminous protein content
of a duck egg (bet you didn’t think you’d get a science lesson today!), they
can take your baking to a whole new level. Literally. The extra protein offers
more structure to your baked goods, creating a fluffier and loftier goody. From
sweet to savory baked foods, duck eggs win hands down. How does a quiche (with
Farm Girl jalapeno sausage), paired with a slice of homemade angel food cake
sound tonight? Or custard. Or pound cake. Or cupcakes. The possibilities are
endless.