[jameslindsay]

You won't be able to keep up, James.  I may need to get more ducks! and Hens!

You are so right, I sold every egg from last week this weekend and todays have all gone too! And to think I used to just give them away!!! I am recording what money is made, just out of interest and I hope that the Aylesbury eggs I have and that are due to hatch on Wednesday will all be girls too.

[northfifeduckling]

We'll come by to listen to your incubator tomorrow - I don't need to take any eggs this week as I'll manage to give this person an extra box and you are doing great without help! They are a delicacy - saw them poached on Masterchef - your customers obviously know something good when they see it! And it is a great feeling that they earn their keep. I also keep their money separate now and as a treat from the "profit" I bought them a huge bag of oystershell grit lol.

re washing them - good that ducks are a minority lol, in all that time I can count the clean eggs on one hand, they are messy birds.

[jameslindsay]

Kerstin that's fine. See you tomorrow.

James

[shetlandpaul]

sorry thought you were talking about hen eggs. not sure what the rules about cleaning duck eggs are. Ive tried checking but its not very clear. As duck eggs are more porous than hens there is a risk of allowing germs to enter the egg.

have you tried goose eggs had the first one about a month ago made lovely quiche

[Ross]

sorry to say this washing the egg reduces them to class b. you cant sell class b eggs to the public. if the egg is mucky try rubbing it off . if they are very dirty reserve for your own use. the odd bit of muck adds to the country freshness anyway.

If your flock is over 350 birds, and you are selling your eggs as graded eggs, then this is true.

On the other hand (or wing) if you have a small flock of less than 350 birds, and if you sell your eggs at the farm gate, door to door, or at a farmers market, then you can sell them as ungraded in which case washing is tolerated. You do not have to write "ungraded" on the box, you don't have to stamp the eggs. You must have a registered producer number, and your contact details, storage information and an explanation of the egg codes must be displayed at the point of sale. You cannot sell ungraded eggs in a shop, or to the restuarant trade.

On the other other hand(or wing) if you have a very small flock of less than 50 birds, (and I suspect that covers quite a lot of people hereabouts) then the egg marketing board cannot see you as you are too small. You are thought of as a hobbyist, and you can sell your surplus eggs to friends, neighbours etc. You don't even need a producer number.

[doganjo]

On the other other hand(or wing) if you have a very small flock of less than 50 birds, (and I suspect that covers quite a lot of people hereabouts) then the egg marketing board cannot see you as you are too small. You are thought of as a hobbyist, and you can sell your surplus eggs to friends, neighbours etc. You don't even need a producer number.

That's me - 14 birds altogether - not a producer, not selling as such, I ask for a contribution to their feed.  They are my pets first and foremost, my friends and neighbours come to see them, give me raw vegetable waste and bread for them, then give me a donation to their pellets.  I give them eggs as gifts.  There's always a way round.(or ovoid  )

[Frieslandfilly]

We started off selling our eggs at 50p 1/2 dozen and could not keep up, we have now raised it to 80p and still demand is high, our ducks eggs sell for 1.20 1/2dozen although the market for them is slightly less, we always clean the duck eggs as soon as they are picked up, as you say they are porous and they are very messy birds

This is a great site to join up with likeminded people and get and hear about thier experiences!

[jameslindsay]

Just for Info, I am selling my Duck Eggs at £1.50 for 6 but the amount of people that are telling me that is CHEAP!! I have no intentions of raising the price but interesting when quite a few people are saying it.

[doganjo]

Because there is less of a market I put one or two duck eggs in with 4 or 5 hens eggs and 'sell' them as mixed or hens only at £1 per 6. A lot of folk have come back to me and said how lovely the duck eggs were as they'd never tried them before - didn't like the thought (goodness knows why not!), and will now have them regularly.  Most people just treat them the same but they are much better for baking than hens eggs.  Sponges rise better and are a richer colour, fruit cakes are even fruitier made with duck eggs.  I've never tried goose eggs, although I have thought of having a couple of geese except for the noise and aggression element. (they might attack my doggie woggies 

[jameslindsay]

My 2 geese are fearless Annie, although they never attack us they are extremely intimidating with the hissing and low necks as they run at you. I find it funny and know they won't touch me but it would scare the sh** out of some people.

[northfifeduckling]

you can't make meringues with duckies' eggs! The result of her only attempt reduced one of my girls to tears! And you are not supposed to eat them uncooked, like in mousses or tiramisu (the shell apparently is more porous for bacteria and as we all know, they are messy!). Other than swapping the occasional box for hens' for meringues I'm more than happy with the ducks' eggs. The cheapest I've seen them locally, James, is £ 1.30 for 6 in the Cupar farm shop. I think £ 1.50 is a good but fair price.

[MiriMaran]

I sell my eggs at £1 for 6.

By the way Jameslindsay, geese are the only animals I'm scared of!  I've worked with dangerous dogs, emptied abandoned houses of terrified vicious cats.  Cared for 15ft Burmese Pythons, gibbons, monkeys and all sorts, but geese give me the total heebie geebies after being chased and pecked as a 5 year old!!

[doganjo]

Gosh, what a co-incidence - so was I!  I used to go with my Granda Donald delivering ice cream to hotels - Donalds Ice Cream from Aberdeen if anyone remembers it. One hotel at Grantown had a goose called Sarah and I was happily playing in the back yard waiting for Granda to come back to the car when this THING came out of nowhere and started to chase and bite me - well, I think the whole of Grantown on Spey came to see with the noise I made.  Granda and the hotel owner were just stood there laughing while I screamed and started chasing the goose back to its pen.  It did actually turn and run away from me and to be honest my Mum said there wasn't a mark on me so Sarah couldn't have been pecking me very hard.  The strangest thing is when my daughter was born I had absolutely no recollection of this incident and called her - wait for it ......... Sarah!  Weird!

[jameslindsay]

I know the geese come over as being "wee monkeys" but I love them, I think they are great fun to watch and keep. They think they own this place and ofcourse the river is their property too. Luckily they allow my ducks to use the river without any fighting, I also like the noise that they make.

[jameslindsay]

Today I have started selling the chickens eggs too. I only have 4  but they are producing 1 each, each day and we are not using as quick as they are producing. Better to let others get the goodness than allow them to go to waste. I never got them with the intentions to sell their eggs but why not, they are totally free range??