# why do duck eggs make me ill?



## gardencurt

on two occasions i ate egg from my duck and became very very sick for a few hours. how weird is this?


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## TexasArtist

perhaps your a little alergic. Do you know if it was the same type of duck or two different breeds?


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## gardencurt

it was from the same duck. I have a white pekin. We did have two but the male has been gone for a long time. the female just kind of hangs out with the dogs now. I first tried an omlette; and got violentlly ill, then weeks later i had a small piece of cake with an egg in it, with the same outcome


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## Cyngbaeld

Do you react the same to chicken eggs?


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## Cliff

Well whatever you do don't ever eat duck eggs again. You are obviously allergic to them. 
You are in line to have a major life-threatening allergic reaction.


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## KSALguy

does she eat alot of dog food? you could be alergic to dog food,


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## GrannyCarol

I have friends that can eat the eggs from their chickens, but duck eggs upset their stomachs. It's not allergies in that case, because they are fine if the eggs are in their baked goods. Not sure why, but it just seems to work that way for some people. They just can't tolerate duck eggs scrambled or fried.


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## eross230

I have a relative who is allergic to chicken eggs, but does fine with duck eggs. Maybe the reverse is true for some people.


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## LFRJ

Sorry G-Curt. It _may_ be you just don't tolertate duck eggs. THis happened to me too. I've eaten eggs all my life, probably more than I should. I've never had any type of allergy, am even resistant to cold and flu. But duck eggs gave me severe cramps within an hour of eating. (i can tolerate them when baked though).

We were new to raising poultry. We had 2 Indian Runner hens (standard layer ducks), and a small flock of chickens. The chicken eggs did not cause problems, but the duck eggs caused a severe reaction. I thought it was something I was doing wrong, either by handling/washing the eggs or raising/illness in the ducks. I called our extension office. They questioned and reviewed my situation thoroughly, but concluded that it was nothing I was doing wrong. This made me a feel a little better, but I was dissapointed. 

It wasn't until I posted on this thread and found there were others who had similar reaction to duck eggs, but not chicken eggs. There are others too who have reverse reaction - duck eggs okay, chicken eggs big no no. Go figure. I could not find a scientific reason - perhaps some sort of enzyme? 

Our ducks eggs are still useful to us. I can sell them to those who enjoy them. Duck eggs are hard to get, so it's a real novelty... Or...I freeze them and later, scramble and feed back to the flock for extra protein when they most need it. I figure this is how our ducks fit in to our operation. 

I'm fine with goose eggs though - and enjoy them every season! Chicken eggs still never a bother. I'll check back on this post because I'd love to know what it is about duck eggs that causes this, if anyone knows the answer.


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## Cyngbaeld

I know there is a difference in the albumin. I can eat duck eggs, including the white, but cannot eat chicken egg white without an upset stomach.


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## bluetick

Add me to the list of those who become ill after eating duck eggs, but not chicken or goose eggs. Um, make that used to become ill - I don't eat them anymore!


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## Terry W

Cyngbaeld said:


> I know there is a difference in the albumin. I can eat duck eggs, including the white, but cannot eat chicken egg white without an upset stomach.



exactly-- the albumin is the protein source-- and in each species, the amino acid chains that make up the proteins are arranged just a bit differently. Sometimes, the way a protein is prepped affects the outcome in our digestive systems-- for example, I can eat 'cooked' tomatoes (even if just quickly thrown in a frypan for 10 seconds), but to remove a raw tomato from a hamburger still puts me at risk for anaphylactic shock caused by the left behind juices... A friend found a way that lets me eat cucumbers-- boy, I NEVER dreamed I could enjoy a cucumber.... I have children that cannot eat store bopught beef--- but are fine with the beef that a neighbor raises-- the home raised beef has not been fed penicillin!!!!


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## Ernie

I have read that almost everyone is allergic to SOMETHING but due to the rather limited diet of most Americans we never really get a chance to find out what that is. One of the mushroom gathering books discusses how often someone will eat a wild mushroom they have gathered and then get very sick and assume it was poisonous when in fact it was simply an allergic reaction. For example, if you are allergic to cedar then you might suffer from eating a mushroom growing on dead cedar. 

Food allergies are really pretty complex. We've got a few we have to deal with in our house but praise God none of them are life threatening.


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## Danaus29

Our neighbor (well , previous neighbor) boy is allergic to duck eggs. Puked his guts up all over the inside of his grandpa's car last time he had them.

Some people are allergic to duck eggs but can eat chicken eggs and some people are allergic to chicken eggs but can eat duck eggs.

Chicken eggs make me want to throw up. I just can't stand to eat them, I don't get sick over them, just feel like it.


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## airotciv

My DH can't eat duck eggs, but has no problem with chicken eggs. This is from Metzer Farms web site.


Nutritional Comparison of Duck and Chicken Eggs

Amount of Nutrients in 100 grams of Fresh Eggs


Duck Chicken

Water, g 74.57 70.83

Kcal 185 158

Protein, g 12.81 12.14

Lipids, g 13.77 11.15


Minerals 

Calcium, mg 64 56

Iron, mg 3.85 2.09

Magnesium, mg 16 12

Phosphorus, mg 220 180

Potassium, mg 222 130

Sodium, mg 146 138

Zinc, mg 1.41 1.44


Vitamins


Thiamin, mg .156 .087

Riboflavin, mg .404 .301

Niacin, mg .200 .062

B6, mg .250 .120

B12, mg 5.395 1.547

A, IU 1328 520


Lipids


Total saturated, g 3.68 3.35

Total monounsaturated,g 6.52 4.46

Total polyunsaturated,g 1.22 1.45

Cholesterol, mg 884 548


Amino Acids


Lysine, g .951 .820

Methionine, g .576 .392

Cystine, g .285 .289

Threonine, g .736 .596

Isoleucine, g .598 .759

Phenylalanine, g .840 .686


As you can see duck eggs and chicken eggs are different. When my DH went to the doctors (for something else) he took this with him and asked the Doc about the problem with duck eggs. Well the Doc said it was most likely due to one or more of the high vitamins, such as B12, A,IU or anything else that is higher then a chicken egg. Well DH just doesn't eat duck eggs. No way to really know.



Edit: Well I tried to realine the chart but for some reason I can't, hope your can read it.


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## offthegrid

Hmm...I can't eat chicken eggs but I wonder if I could eat duck eggs? I don't know if I'm allergic or intolerant...but they upset my stomach for a few hours after eating. I can usually eat baked goods with eggs but avoid anything that has a lot of eggs just in case.

But what if I got even sicker with duck eggs? Not sure I have the guts to try them.


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## Briza

In the book PH Miracle (about balancing your PH for optimum health) there is a statement of how many thousands of potential irritants there are in eggs. It was stunning. Not just the proteins. The book was written by a blood chemist and he told about what happens to your blood chemistry after eating eggs. Not pretty.
B~


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## GrannyCarol

offthegrid said:


> Hmm...I can't eat chicken eggs but I wonder if I could eat duck eggs? I don't know if I'm allergic or intolerant...but they upset my stomach for a few hours after eating. I can usually eat baked goods with eggs but avoid anything that has a lot of eggs just in case.
> 
> But what if I got even sicker with duck eggs? Not sure I have the guts to try them.


Maybe you could try eating baked good with duck eggs and see how they set in your tummy? Work your way up to the "real" thing? I've heard people say they can eat duck eggs and not chicken, so it's worth a try.


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## Cliff

GrannyCarol said:


> Maybe you could try eating baked good with duck eggs and see how they set in your tummy? Work your way up to the "real" thing? I've heard people say they can eat duck eggs and not chicken, so it's worth a try.


Be careful though. You've already had 2 pretty bad reactions to duck eggs. If it is an allergy it could be really bad news to eat them again. If it's just intolerance you'd probably be ok but there's really no way to know that I know of.
Luckily duck eggs aren't something you're gonna run into in our everyday food. So pretty much a non-issue.


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## airotciv

offthegrid said:


> Hmm...I can't eat chicken eggs but I wonder if I could eat duck eggs? I don't know if I'm allergic or intolerant...but they upset my stomach for a few hours after eating. I can usually eat baked goods with eggs but avoid anything that has a lot of eggs just in case.
> 
> But what if I got even sicker with duck eggs? Not sure I have the guts to try them.



I have a friend that I give a dozen duck eggs a week to that can't eat chicken eggs. Is't not like the ducks get fed something different. But I can understand you not wanting to eat any egg. As the DH says not worth it.


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