Blown
duck and goose eggs can be used to make beautifully decorated egg
art. To see examples, see our post on BlownEgg Art.
How
the eggs are emptied and cleaned for decorating can differ from
person to person. An older method of blowing the eggs is to poke a
hole in both ends of the egg, swirl a stick in it to break up the
yolk, and literally blow into the egg in one end and the yolk and
white goes out the other end - hence the term ‘blown’ egg.
We
do not physically blow our duck and goose eggs, however, as we would
have fainting employees every day if we did!
We
start with a device that helps us mark the exact center of the large
end of the egg. We want the hole in the exact center so if the egg
is hung from the hole, the egg hangs perfectly straight. The egg is
then taken to a Dremel drill and using one of their 192
carving/engraving bits we drill the actual hole which measures 5/32
of an inch in diameter.
The
drilled eggs are then placed hole down over short pieces of small
copper tubing that are connected to an air compressor and a water
source. Initially air is blown into the egg which forces the egg
contents out the hole. After the insides are drained, water is then
pushed through the copper tube to rinse out any remaining contents.
Then we use a soap solution to clean the inside. Finally, we rinse
out the soapy water with clean water and use a final blast of air to
get all the water out of the egg.
Goose
eggs are measured after cleaning. A tape measure is wrapped around
the length of the egg, not the width, to determine the size. The eggs
are sold by this circumference measurement and range from 8“ to
over 12“. A 10“ goose egg, for instance, measures anywhere from
10“ to almost 10.5“ in circumference. Duck eggs, on the other
hand, are measured by their weight when they are washed by our
automatic egg washer and grader when they enter the hatchery. The
duck eggs come in Pee Wee, Small, Medium, Large and Jumbo sizes. As
duck eggs are much larger than chicken eggs, our Small is equivalent
to a Jumbo chicken egg.
After
the egg contents have been removed and the inside of the egg has been
cleaned and rinsed, the shell itself is carefully cleaned with a
dilute solution of water and vinegar.
Once
shiny and clean, the eggs are left to dry and then boxed and stored
until a customer places an order for them. If blown and cleaned
properly, an egg should never decay. For more information on the
blown eggs we sell, please visit our BlownGoose and Duck Egg
page on our website.
