# Chicken egg to duck egg conversion question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [August 7, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818 "2025-08-07T15:38:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/1 "2025-08-07T15:38:17Z")
Recently, someone gave me a dozen duck eggs, and I had never seen or eaten them before. Instead of using them for breakfast, I decided to put some of them into my low-carb rustic bread recipe. This recipe, which I have made dozens of times, calls for five chicken eggs. When I opened the carton, I was surprised by their size and assumed I should use fewer than five. Googling the conversion factor, I found a few different answers, and I’m concerned that the dough will be too wet if I use four, or too dry if I only use three. What do you recommend? Please don’t tell me to use 3 1/2 duck eggs, as I have no idea how to evenly split an egg into two. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/2 "2025-08-07T17:17:21Z")
The rule of thumb is 2 duck eggs to 3 chicken eggs. However: be advised that the interior ratio of yolk to white is also different. By volume, duck eggs are fattier as a result. Your rustic bread will _probably_ be fine, but a more finicky recipe would need more testing and tinkering. Edit to add: If it were me, I would probably go with two duck eggs and a chicken egg, and then eyeball it, and maybe add a chicken egg white. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/3 "2025-08-07T17:25:17Z")
An egg, as a unit of measure, is metrologically meaningless, anyway. Commercially, egg ingredients are weighed. Chicken eggs are so variable, they’re sold in, what, five or six different sizes. Of course, egg W:Y content ratios are unreliable, too. How many double yolk eggs till the bread is ruined? A size or two up or down probably won’t change much. A rough 3:2 chicken:duck is as good a guess as any. I just learned of a German expression like ‘the yolk of the egg’ to mean bullseye or ‘right on the money.’ ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/4 "2025-08-07T17:31:41Z")
Baking with duck eggs is a crime. A runny duck egg yolk surrounded by the crispy white is breakfast perfection. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/5 "2025-08-07T22:22:15Z")
Thanks, everyone. I think I will go with two duck eggs plus two chicken eggs for this recipe and see how it works out. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/6 "2025-08-07T22:33:03Z")
I love duck eggs a friend of mine said they used to make ice cream with duck eggs as a kid and I’m obsessed. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/7 "2025-08-07T22:37:53Z")
I’m a little surprised you can’t buy duck or goose eggs in grocery stores, but I assume it’s because there isn’t enough demand, and as a result, they would cost much more than chicken eggs do. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/8 "2025-08-07T22:57:22Z")
I’ve seen duck eggs in Whole Foods and other higher end grocery stores. I’ve never seen goose eggs, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/9 "2025-08-07T23:45:58Z")
They’re definitely a specialty item. When I was still in Seattle, there was this little shop in the Pike Place Market that sold all kinds of poultry eggs, from quail to goose. They could even get ostrich eggs if you gave them some advance notice. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/10 "2025-08-08T00:35:28Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > I’m a little surprised you can’t buy duck or goose eggs in grocery stores, but I assume it’s because there isn’t enough demand, and as a result, they would cost much more than chicken eggs do. There isn’t as much supply, either. Chickens have been very selectively bred into egg-laying machines. ---
**Author:** ![Apodder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apodder/32/17727_2.png) [@Apodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apodder)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/11 "2025-08-08T01:50:22Z")
I’ll be needing to see your bread recipe now. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/12 "2025-08-08T12:53:45Z")
Since the question has been answered, I’ll add my 2¢, but not about duck eggs. I local farm raises emus, and once when I was there I asked about emu eggs. He said that they do sell them when they’re available. I think they were three or four bucks each, but he also informed me that aside from being larger “They don’t have any special taste, and you can’t tell them from chicken eggs.” ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/13 "2025-08-08T13:19:06Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > “They don’t have any special taste, and you can’t tell them from chicken eggs.” I’ve heard the same thing said about Ostrich eggs, although I don’t know from personal experience. It makes sense since you would expect all bird eggs to be made up of the same basic stuff, but perhaps in different proportions. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/14 "2025-08-08T14:26:07Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > He said that they do sell them when they’re available. I think they were three or four bucks each Hmm, never thought about that. I would drive quite a long way for fresh emu eggs, just for the novelty. I’ve tried deviled ostrich egg, it wasn’t anything special except looked very-sortamuch like a humanoid skull with spoons sticking out to portion the creamy goo inside. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/15 "2025-08-08T15:56:28Z")
I have a friend who is allergic to chicken. She can eat duck eggs, though, and buys them when she can find them. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/16 "2025-08-11T01:26:42Z")
I came across this photo on reddit this afternoon: [Zoo nearby sells ostrich eggs](https://i.redd.it/raovc071e8if1.jpeg) > For those wondering one egg cost 22€ and they claimed it contained about as much as 20 chicken eggs, also they claimed one needs a drill to open it. [https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/1mmp9nc/zoo\_nearby\_sells\_ostrich\_eggs](https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/1mmp9nc/zoo_nearby_sells_ostrich_eggs) ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/17 "2025-08-11T16:09:20Z")
As to dividing an egg in half, couldn’t it be done after whisking it? I’d imagine one could whisk together the usual amount of chicken eggs and measure the volume and do the same for duck eggs. Easier than trying to divide a yolk and albumen. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/18 "2025-08-11T16:11:14Z")
Yes, that makes perfect sense. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/19 "2025-08-11T16:33:27Z")
> [@caligulathegod](#): > > As to dividing an egg in half, couldn’t it be done after whisking it? I’d imagine one could whisk together the usual amount of chicken eggs and measure the volume and do the same for duck eggs. Food metrology: No, because the volume is heavily influenced by the air whisked in. You don’t want your whisking technique to play into the conversion. Weight is the way. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818/20 "2025-08-11T16:49:29Z")
It’ll be close enough. Plus all your egg should have equal amounts, roughly, of air beaten into it so it shouldn’t matter. Plus you can beat them in a way to minimize air incorporated. Weight is ideal, but I find baking to be far more forgiving than most people make it out to be. It doesn’t have to be precise on a molecular level. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-egg-to-duck-egg-conversion-question/1021818.md?page=2)