Duck eggs now available at Sequim stores

 Our 4-year-old Blue Swedish ducks still produce 5-6 eggs per week!

As our laying ducks came into full production earlier this spring, we were collecting 30-35 duck eggs per day. Sequim's wonderful Alder Wood Bistro, which has been buying our duck and chicken eggs for four years now, was still a couple of months away from the start of their busy summer season.

What to do with the extra eggs?

I started making phone calls. As a result, Canyon Creek Farms' duck eggs are now for sale at Sunny Farms Country Store on Highway 101, as well as at Nash's Farm Store north of downtown Sequim. Sunny Farms sells them by the half-dozen; Nash's offers both half-dozens and full dozens.

Duck eggs are higher in several vitamins, minerals and amino acids than chicken eggs. I recently learned that some people who are allergic to chicken eggs can tolerate duck eggs. The higher viscosity of the whites makes duck eggs ideal for baking, and customers have told us that duck eggs seem "richer and creamier" than chicken eggs.

In addition, duck eggs are larger than chicken eggs: a large chicken egg is 2 ounces, while our duck eggs average between 2-3/4 and 3-1/2 ounces. This means more food value for your money.

If you've tried the Alder Wood tart (the house quiche) or the Chocolate Bliss (a fabulous flourless brownie) at the Alder Wood Bistro, you've eaten our duck eggs. Now you can buy Canyon Creek Farms duck eggs at local Sequim stores to try at home!

Ducks in the High-Occupancy Vehicle lane

Farmall tractor at Nash's Delta Farm.

Last Friday we got a call from Scott, who works for Nash Huber of Nash's Organic Produce in Sequim. Scott had been tending a flock of Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner ducks for over a year, and for various reasons decided to shelve the duck project. He offered to give us the ducks, which he said were about 1-1/2 years old. He thought there were about 35 ducks in all.

David and I had already been discussing the possibility of increasing the size of our laying duck flock (we currently have 10 layers and 2 drakes), as duck eggs are becoming more and more popular around here. So after Scott's call, we debated only briefly before calling him back and accepting his generous offer. Although Scott had said there were a number of drakes in the flock, still we figured we would be at least doubling the number of our laying ducks. Also, the thought of bypassing the 5-month process of brooding and raising baby ducks before starting to collect eggs had an obvious appeal for us.

So, this past Tuesday, we folded down the back seats in our Subaru wagon, lined the whole back area with a heavy tarp and a thick layer of straw, and headed down to Nash's Delta Farm to catch us some ducks.

We were so thankful for the dry weather that day (although it was cold and very windy there), because the yard the ducks were in was all down to mud. Ducks move quite quickly, and these were all smallish ducks and good flyers as well. We moved the fence around to create a small corner, on the theory that we would drive a few ducks at a time into the corner, close it off, and grab the ducks.

 

Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner ducks

It worked reasonably well. One thing about ducks, they like to do everything as a group. And these particular ducks were very nervous, understandable since we were obviously strangers to them. Ducks in general truly hate to be handled, so we were pleasantly surprised at how calm these ducks were once we had actually picked them up.

It took nearly an hour and a half to catch them all, but we got them one at a time and put them through one of the back-seat windows into the car. And although it turned out that there were 40 ducks in all, they seemed to have plenty of room back there.

 

Our new ducks in the back of our Subaru wagon.

When we finally got on the road for the 25-minute drive back home, the ducks were understandably a little bit anxious, and they were naturally all quacking at once. All things considered, though, they were fairly calm during the drive. We knew that ducks like to be talked to (and even sung to), and we wanted them to get used to the sound of our voices, so we kept talking. At one point, David said, "Hey, anybody want to stop for ice cream?" A few ducks quacked. David tried again. "How about tacos?" This suggestion also generated some unenthusiastic quacking. To my offer of fried chicken there was no response at all. Finally, David called out, "Who wants some SLUGS?" Suddenly a loud chorus of excited quacking erupted from the back of the car. We just about fell off our seats laughing.

Once we got home, it was nearly dark, and the process of getting the ducks out of the car and into their new coop was quick and easy. We simply set up a ramp at the back of the car, lifted the back door, and once they figured out that the door was open, they all piled out at once. After a bedtime snack and a sip of water, the ducks headed into their straw-lined coop for the night.

We've had our new ducks for 2-1/2 days now, and they are settling in well and noticeably less nervous around us. We expect that by sometime in January, we will be starting to collect eggs, which is good news for the Alder Wood Bistro, the Red Rooster Grocery, and Nash's Farm Store.The Bistro has been buying our duck eggs for over 3 years now, and whatever extra duck eggs we have will be sold at the Red Rooster and Nash's.

It was quite an experience getting 40 ducks into our car and taking them for a ride, but it was well worth the effort. It occurred to us that if we had been traveling on a different highway, we could have used the HOV lane. And not once did we have to say, "Don't make me stop this car!"

Pot Pies and Egg Money turns 50!

Okay, okay, not really. But this is the 50th post on the Pot Pies and Egg Money blog, so who needs an excuse to celebrate? I thought about listing 50 ways to cook a heritage turkey (my related post of November 2010 is still getting lots of hits), or maybe 50 reasons why mechanical pluckers are preferable when slaughtering turkeys outside in late November when it's snowing and 20 degrees (although I think I just mentioned the only reason that really matters), or even 50 reasons why Tamworth pigs are nicer than bobcats (but that has a little of that apples-and-oranges thing going on).

Tell you what: Suppose I list 50 things I like about writing this blog? Okay, imagine that I came up with 50. Now I'm going to pretend I'm writing a killer query letter and pare it down to what you, the reader, really needs to know.

First, I love to write and am feeling quite cock-a-hoop with myself over the progress I've made on Pot Pies and Egg Money (the book, you know) recently. I know I'm dating myself by using phrases like "cock-a-hoop", but my husband doesn't like it when I date anyone other than him, so I'll stop now.

I lied. About stopping, I mean. The second thing I love about this blog is, frankly, YOU. I am so gratified to look at the statistics every week and see how many countries have at least one of you reading my blog. Last time I checked, that list had grown to over 30 countries! Amazing, this worldwide web thing, isn't it? I appreciate your comments and questions and wish you'd post more of them. And while you're at it, why not sign up as a follower or subscribe? That way you won't have to lose any more sleep wondering if you missed my latest post.

Thanks to all of you for faithfully following my blog over this past year. Keep in touch, and I'll keep you posted (no pun intended) about the progress of my book.

Right now, though, I think I'll start chilling the champagne. I feel like celebrating!

Tamworth pigs are growing fast

The three Tamworth pigs we brought home about a month ago are doing great and seem to be growing almost before our eyes. David insists that when he feeds them late in the day, they look bigger than they did in the morning. Not to sound like a sentimental parent or anything, but is there anything more adorable than baby pigs? OK, maybe baby ducks...

As usual with Tamworths, they are plowing up their current paddock quite happily and efficiently, so we will be moving them to an adjacent paddock in the next couple of days. We've finally started to get some summer weather (80s for daytime high predicted all week), so we're going to keep re-seeding the pastures until the first fall frosts discourage such behavior.

Our average first frost is around mid-October, although we were surprised one year by a night in the 20s in September. Everyone says we're in for a hard winter, and I hear rumors of another La Nina season. Now that it's been over five years since we moved to the farm, maybe I should start learning something about the weather! I guess I assumed that El Nino and La Nina more or less alternated, but if predictions pan out, this would be two La Nina winters back to back.

What are you doing to prepare for winter? I've had a lot of questions lately about heating and/or insulating chicken coops. Do you do either of these before the cold weather sets in? I'd love to hear your comments and ideas.

Speaking of eggs, a Nankin hatched 10 (ten!) yesterday

New mama Nankin keeping her ten chicks warm. If you look closely, 

you can see the legs and feet of some of the chicks under the hen.

Well, it's happened again: A Nankin bantam hen came marching out of some bushes near the house this morning with ten tiny chicks. We're not really surprised. In the three years we've had Nankins here, usually two or three batches of chicks show up this way. The hens just like to lay their eggs outdoors sometimes, although most of them regularly lay their eggs in the nest boxes. 

As far as I can remember, this is the largest single brood I've seen a Nankin hatch. The Nankins are a very interesting breed, and according to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, they are critically endangered. (We are actually part of a small group of U.S. Nankin breeders. In 2010, the Oregon Zoo in Portland, OR bought some Nankins from us for their wonderful Family Farm.)  Nankins are one of only a handful of chickens that are "true bantams;" unlike most bantams, the Nankin is not a miniature version of a large breed. 

One of the main reasons we were interested in Nankins is their reputation for being extremely broody. Historically, Nankins were used by gamekeepers on large estates to hatch the eggs of game birds such as quail and pheasant. Two years ago, one of our relatively tiny (and quite determined) Nankin hens even incubated and hatched four Midget White turkey eggs.

Nankins are small birds; adults are usually between 16 and 24 ounces. They're about the size of a smallish pigeon. Their eggs are naturally on the petite side, but quite delicious. One of my sisters actually prefers the banty eggs because she's not terribly fond of egg white, and the Nankin eggs have proportionately more yolk than regular chicken eggs. We don't normally sell our banty eggs, and sometimes we use them to make deviled eggs; they're yummy, bite-sized, and terribly cute.

Anyway, here we go again. I wouldn't be surprised if another Nankin hen shows up with chicks soon. We have quite a few of them, and we don't do head counts when we tuck them in for the night. You might wonder what we do with them, if we don't sell the eggs. Well, frankly we just love them. They're adorable, the roosters hardly ever fight with each other, and there's that broody thing. 

We got our first Nankins round about the time we started selling our eggs, so the big picture of our farm life was still evolving. Still is, for that matter. And now the big picture has ten more chicks in it.

Three more Tamworth piglets on the farm

 

Three 9-week-old Tamworth pigs, on their first day at our farm.

On August 12, I brought home our latest batch of Tamworth pigs, three this time. If you've been keeping track, this is our fourth batch of pigs, all of them Tamworths. While I was away on the 6-hour (RT) drive to Toledo, WA to get them, David was setting up the electric fence and moving the A-frame Piglet Palace. The yard he fenced off was quite large, with a good mix of shorter and taller grasses and clover. 

Right out of the gate, the piglets raced around, clearly thrilled by their grassy surroundings. In fact, although we had a trough with a lovely organic hog mash all ready for them, they ignored it for quite some time, being apparently more interested in the green stuff. They were probably around 30 pounds or so when we got them, and when they went into the taller grass they nearly disappeared from sight. Evidently they were having a good time, though. We got a couple of drinks and sat there for a while watching them; great fun, I'm telling you.

Two little Tamworths, ignoring the yummy organic hog mash in their 

trough. At least we don't have to bribe them to eat their vegetables.

 The piglets have grown noticeably in the five days we've had them. Just today, one of them decided to free-range, so we spent a while getting him back in the yard (OK, we did this several times) and troubleshooting the electric fence. Clearly the little dickens wasn't respecting the fence. When we were finished, though, we were rewarded with the telltale yelp when his snout touched the rope. Pigs are smart, and they learn pretty fast to stay away from that hot rope. They're also speedy runners, and I hope we don't have to do the piglet roundup again anytime soon.

Cracking the code of egg carton labels, Part 2

This time I just want to talk about one egg carton label and what it means: "Vegetarian Diet." According to the Humane Society, "vegetarian diet," in the egg industry, means "These birds' feed does not contain animal byproducts, but this label does not have significant relevance to the animals' living conditions."

OK, let's set aside for the moment the reference to living conditions (which is vague in the extreme). What strikes me about "vegetarian diet" is that the marketers are counting on the average consumer to be unaware that chickens are actually omnivorous. We see our birds foraging all day long, eating all manner of worms, bugs, and grubs; they go fairly nuts during the summer when, for about a week, the carpenter ants are flying. It's quite entertaining to watch the birds run around, leaping into the air to snatch the large and apparently delectable ants.

We've even seen the chickens catch small frogs, lizards, mice, and (believe it or not) snakes. The first time I saw a hen with a snake I wouldn't have believed it. From across the yard, the hen was racing around, with 10 or so hens in hot pursuit. I could see the lead hen had something hanging from her beak but I couldn't see what it was, so I went to see what was going on. She had a garter snake, and about 16" of the snake was visible. With an impressive finishing kick, the hen got far enough ahead of the other birds and stopped abruptly. Tilting her head back in a whiplash-like motion, she swallowed the snake in one go. I swear I'm not making this up. I remember thinking, I wonder if the snake was dead when the hen swallowed it?

Anyway, the point is, if a laying hen is eating a "vegetarian diet," by definition she is not foraging any of her food. True, I think it's great if the hens' feed doesn't contain any animal byproducts; I just happen to also believe that hens are happier, healthier, and lay better-tasting and healthier eggs when they have access to the naturally-balanced range of foods they thrive on.

I was planning two posts regarding egg carton labels, but I will be doing at least one more, as I have been getting a lot of questions about this lately. Please post your comments and questions too; the label definitions and parameters periodically change, and I'll do what I can to help clarify them.