When & How to Collect Duck Eggs

On average, ducks begin laying eggs when they reach about six or seven months old and often lay eggs at a 90 percent rate within their laying period. This means if you care for a 100 duck pile, your ducks should produce about 90 eggs per day during their laying. Ducks lay their eggs at night or early in the morning. Collecting the eggs should be a quick process to reduce loss from broken eggs as well as limit their exposure to dirt. During the collecting process, if the eggs are for incubating into more ducks a careful selection process should be applied to choose only those most likely to hatch; if the eggs are for eating, they must be cleaned promptly to reduce the risk of disease.

Things You'll Need

  • Plastic egg trays
  • Fine steel wool
  • Clean cloth
  • Scale (optional)
  • Incubator (optional)
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Instructions

    • 1

      Begin checking for eggs first thing in the morning. Ducks often lay their eggs between 4:00 and 7:00 each morning of their laying cycle. Go to one nest at a time and inspect it carefully without disturbing the nest or ducks.

    • 2

      Collect eggs one at a time by hand, placing the eggs into the plastic egg trays. Take care to separate eggs that are dirtier than others.

    • 3

      Inspect eggs carefully for dirt or damage. If you plan to incubate some eggs, set aside those which are average weight for your duck breed to go into an incubator. Eggs that are not suitable for incubating include underweight eggs and those with cracked or mottled shells. Weak shells are also poor candidates for incubation.

    • 4

      Wipe dirt, mud, manure and other potential contaminants from the eggs using a fine steel wool. Gently rub the eggs with steel wool using light pressure around the surface, then wipe the egg with a clean moist cloth. Do not wash the eggs; this can remove the protective coating from the shell.

    • 5

      Repeat the checking, collecting and cleaning routine daily for approximately five weeks, or until the ducks cease laying eggs. Many duck raisers check and collect eggs daily after their ducks begin laying. If ducks are kept together in groups larger than 250 birds, egg production may also be slow throughout the cycle.