What a lovely sight… Seeing our birds out on pasture and enjoying life. It doesn’t get any better than that!
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KW Homestead
Pasture Raised Poultry & Edible Landscaping Plants Since 2013
Author: Emma (page 15 of 36)
It’s been a while since we’ve filmed the cows, so we thought it was a great time to reintroduce you! This video shows you how much Johnny had grown and we talk about how perhaps Dani is pregnant!
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This video was filmed in late winter, when the cows get really excited about greenery. Jason calls them over and they know that he plans to give them some fresh grass that has sprung up… So they come running!
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This is another cute video featuring Half-Nose’s newest litter. How cute are they? Check out the spotted piglet… who we hope will be the next Farm to Your School visiting pig!
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This past week, Half-Nose delivered a litter of cute little babies (including a spotted babe). The day after, another pig delivered her first litter, but since it was her first time as a mom, she wasn’t up to the challenge. Luckily, Half-Nose happily adopted her babies and is nursing away! Great job, Half-Nose!
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Last year we didn’t have great luck with our incubation… Our incubators malfunctioned in various ways and we were only able to hatch out a few babies. This year we’re hoping for a different result. We’ve calibrated the incubators to be sure that their temperature is reading true (this was our biggest issue), and the nicer incubator we have is now in a spot where the cords won’t get bumped or jostled (this was disconnected the incubator and totally ruining our hatch).
We segregated the adult Pekins from the rest of the layer flock, thus collecting only Pekin eggs… Which are usually a bit larger.
The ideal temperature for incubating ducks is 99.5 degrees F and the ideal relative humidity is 55%. Duck eggs incubate for 28 days, a whole week longer than chicken eggs. Amazing, right?! We are all set to place the eggs in the incubator in the next few days, and we’ve made sure to rotate the eggs every day so that the eggs don’t start to settle or stick to one side of the shell. Wish us luck this year!
We have 2 of the Little Giant incubators with trays that slowly swivel and rotate the eggs over time.
We have one incubator from Incubator Warehouse that worked wonders two years ago before it became electrically sensitive. The egg turner turns the eggs partially every 6 hours (or less or more if you change the settings).
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The first batch of these cute duck babes arrived here this week! They spent the first few days inside (since the outside temperatures dropped to 20 with lots of wind) and they’ve been growing steadily!
The Pekin breed is the breed we raise for meat, and we decided on a few Runner ducks as well, a hilarious breed that stands super tall and looks like they might just fall over at all times! There’s not much cuter than a baby duck!
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Oftentimes we are asked how duck eggs should be cooked. One of the great things about duck eggs, is that they can be cooked in all the same ways as classic chicken eggs. If you’re interested in seeing a nutritional profile comparing duck eggs and chicken eggs, visit this page on our website. Here are a few more tips:
Fried Duck Eggs
We usually fry our duck eggs over-easy, but duck eggs shine as fried eggs no matter how you cook them. The only difference in cooking duck eggs is that cooking them on medium heat is more effective than high heat (as folks often do with chicken eggs). Since duck eggs have a higher fat content, cooking them on high increases the risk that you might burn the eggs before they’re fully cooked. Another great thing about duck eggs is that the yolks hold together very well when flipping them, so you rarely get a busted yolk. Perfect!
Fried Duck Eggs
Scrambled Duck Eggs/Duck Egg Omelettes
Jason particularly enjoys our scrambled duck eggs and omelets. Duck eggs are great for cooking in this way, especially since they hold up better than chicken eggs and retain more texture and flavor when cooked omelette-style. Duck eggs are significantly more flavorful than chicken eggs, and creamier in texture. They’re extra delicious when you add veggies and other yummies to your omelette.
A Lambsquarter, Purple Potato, and Duck Eggs Omelette!
Boiled/Deviled Duck Eggs
Boiled duck eggs are one of Emma’s favorite ways to eat our eggs. We boil them a bit longer than chicken eggs, but we know everyone has their own recipe for boiling eggs. We usually boil them for about 10 minutes and then leave them in the warm water with the pot’s lid on for about 10 more minutes. We always check an egg afterwards just to make sure they’re cooked to our preferences.
In case you love deviled eggs (like Emma does), you’re going to love deviled duck eggs even more! The natural creaminess of the eggs makes all the difference when you devil them! This is Emma’s mom’s recipe for curried, devil duck eggs… The BEST deviled eggs around!
Baking with Duck Eggs
Duck eggs are often touted as being the very best for baking, and it’s totally true! Since we only eat duck eggs these days (no chicken eggs for us), we’ve baked with duck eggs for a long time. The creaminess of duck eggs makes baking with them simply amazing! When you’re baking, you can substitute duck eggs for chicken eggs 1:1.
Duck Egg Drop Soup
This is perhaps the easiest and most unique way to enjoy duck eggs. We make a delicious broth with our chicken bones and make sure that the strained and ready-to-drink broth is very lightly simmering. Then we crack a few duck eggs into a bowl and whisk them so that when we slowly pour them into the simmering broth, they are easily stirred into small pieces with a fast-moving whisk. The whisked duck eggs cook in a matter of minutes and then we like to add peas and other yummy spices! Try this simple and easy recipe for a delicous treat.
Duck Egg Drop Soup!
There is always a way to enjoy nutritious and yummy duck eggs!
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This video is a brief look at the beginning of our ducks’ nighttime routine here on the homestead. After we call “duck, duck, duck!” they come running back to their nighttime space to wait for their evening meal. We just added fresh bedding (consisting of leaves) before this video was filmed, and since ducks are hunters at heart, you can see them searching through the bedding in case any bugs are hiding.
Check out the video below!
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