Questions about duck eggs: Why are they so small?

[fogbubble]

Hi
I have a mix of Welsh Harlequins, a Cayuga, and a mallard. The mallard started laying about a month ago, and her eggs are pretty big. I'd say they're bigger than jumbo chicken eggs. The Cayuga's eggs vary between XL and jumbo.
But I've been disappointed with the Welsh Harlequin eggs: I don't have a scale, but I'd guess that they're only large at best. The birds are about 8 months old and have only just begun laying. I thought duck eggs were supposed to be bigger than chicken eggs, and that's what I put in my Craigslist ad. Can somebody offer me some advice? The ducks are free-range during the day and cooped at night. I feed them laying pellets and they have plenty of water to play in. Does egg size increase under certain conditions? I hope so.

 

[tia]

My runners just started laying and they were pretty small too. The last couple of days I noticed they were a lot larger. Maybe they just need some practice. : ) I know that the ones I hatched these from were a lot larger than the ones they are laying. I'm not sure why that is. It will be interesting to find out. I did make some brownies tonight using duck eggs and they were yummy... I'm going to have to sell them or give them away, because they are piling up quicker than I can eat them.

 

[Ducks-R-Us]

I have some magpies that lay very large eggs - way bigger than my pekins or cayugas. Although one of the magpie hens will lay a smaller blue egg, the others lay very large eggs. My guess is that it just depends on which breed you have and how old your ducks are.

 

[10ducks]

There is a chart on this page (link below) comparing Khaki Campbell eggs to Metzer's hybrid egg layers. It says their Khaki eggs average 76 grams. When my Khakis first started laying, they were all over the place, but on average they were around 60 grams for the first couple of months. Now they are up in the 75-80 gram range. They are in their 4th month of laying. Welsh Harlequin eggs are supposed to be comparable to the Khaki Campbells. So I agree with the other posters, you need to give them some time and they will get larger and more consistent in size.

http://metzerfarms.com/egg_prod.htm

 

[Birdcrazy]

I'm pretty sure duck eggs, like chickens, are smaller if they are younger. Maybe check the average weight for the breed's egg and if its bigger than your eggs are turning out to be, I'd definitly say its because of the age.

 

[Keavey]

Iv been gettin an egg a day now for just over a week. They have all been smaller than i was expecting, about same size as chicken egg. Can i assume that it is one of the younger ducks laying and that they will get bigger

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes new layers eggs will be smaller and depending on breed also what breed/s do you have?

 

[Keavey]

A light khaki, a runner cross(with cayuga i think) and an older white campbell

 

[Miss Lydia]

My Runners lay a smaller egg about the size of a med chicken egg my Buff Orpington Ducks lay a nice large egg[sometimes a whopper] and My Muscovy's lay an med size egg to large. Of your White Campbell would probably lay the largest.

 

[Keavey]

They have all been quite small other than one which was very big and a double yolker. But have no way of knowing who does what