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December 15, 2014

Comparing the Nutrients of Duck Eggs and Chicken Eggs

People often ask how duck eggs compare nutritionally to chicken eggs.  Basically, duck eggs are packed with more nutrients than chicken eggs.  The only major nutrient that chicken eggs have more of than duck eggs is ..... water! 

Following is information taken from the USDA analysis of duck eggs and chicken eggs.  Note that these numbers represent the nutrient level in 100 grams of egg.


Of the ten major minerals, duck eggs surpass chicken eggs in nine of those minerals.  Overall, duck eggs average 10% more minerals than chicken eggs.


For the top 13 vitamins, duck eggs have higher levels in ten of them.  If you compare all thirteen vitamins, duck eggs average 40% more vitamins - and that does not even count carotene of which chicken eggs have none.


Duck eggs have a higher overall protein level and surpass chicken eggs in eleven of the eighteen measured amino acids.


Duck eggs also have a higher fat content - which gives them their rich flavor and texture.  It is interesting that duck eggs have 18% more of the saturated ("bad") fats than chicken eggs.  But they also have 39% more of the unsaturated ("good") fats! 


9 comments:

  1. i have an interesting thing that happened when i collected eggs the other day. i have ducks that i raise for the eggs. as i collected the eggs, i found a huge, goose size egg. wow i thought glad i did not have to lay that one if i was a duck. I carefully was washing it and the end of it was really fragile so it of course crackled. so i thought well i get that one for breakfast. so i opened it up and to my surprise there was a white of the egg inside, and also another whole egg, shell and all. so i had the egg inside, normal size with the white surrounding it and the goose size shell on the outside. i could not believe it. i get large eggs that are almost goose size all the time, 3 yolks once and usually doubles. but this was awesome.

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    1. This is rare but obviously happens. The egg is fully formed but instead of being laid, it goes back up the oviduct and gets more albumen and another shell is formed over the original. Then it is finally laid - poor duck!

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  2. Thank you for the wonderful information. I tried duck eggs for the first time this week and I loved them. I decided to write about them for my assignment at the school I am attending, the Energetic Health Institute, where I am studying Holistic Nutrition. I was pleasantly surprised with all the I learned. Thanks again.
    Jackie

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  3. Thank you for that information - I had been wondering for a while the nutritional differences between duck and chicken eggs and you've gone into some detail here!.

    I also did a blog post on this same thing, and thought I'd share it here: http://heritagefarm.com.au/duck-eggs/

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  4. Hello, we bought some golden hybrids and Welsh harlequins from you. They are free range with organic layer pellets at night. Their eggs have always had dark orange yolks. We have started to receive some green or green tinged yolks. The eggs aren't bad, sink and have no odor. I read acorn consumption can cause this but are there any diseases I should look out for?

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    1. I have never heard of a disease causing a discoloration of the yolks. My guess is it is something they are eating. I would contact the feed manufacturer and see what they say. Oftentimes organic feed has a different set of ingredients than conventional feed and that might be a contributing factor.

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  5. Hello, we bought some golden hybrids and Welsh harlequins from you. They are free range with organic layer pellets at night. Their eggs have always had dark orange yolks. We have started to receive some green or green tinged yolks. The eggs aren't bad, sink and have no odor. I read acorn consumption can cause this but are there any diseases I should look out for?

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  6. Something of interest with duck eggs - my doctor has confirmed this as well: if you suffer from migraines, having one duck egg at least every other day (as in my case)keeps them in check.

    Many people who I speak with, who grew up with duck eggs in their diet, or taken it up due to chicken egg allergies, confirm the same.

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  7. You can get fresh free-range organic duck eggs in San Francisco, CA, from Washoe Valley Duck Farm, Sonoma, CA.

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