ollaber
Hatching
- Feb 25, 2015
- 3
- 0
- 7
I'm in a bit of a quandary. My family and I have a flock of 10 Khaki Campbell ducks nearing a year in age. They are very prolific layers and have kept us supplied with many delicious eggs through the spring and summer. The ducks live well in our large yard and have plenty of forage and a couple of swimming pools.
Here is my dilemma: we knew when we purchased these ducklings last year that we might not be able to stay in this house past this fall, and thus would not be able to keep the ducks for more than a year. There are several farms around here and a few private homes with livestock, and we intended to give the ducks away at the end of the fall to one of these farms or homes. We've since investigated all of the options locally, and are not at all satisfied by the quality of life our ducks could expect -- little if any room to roam, no forage, unclean conditions, low quality feed, absent predator protection, and no place to swim. It's hard to imagine our tightly-knit flock of active, somewhat high-strung ducks settling in happily with the large flocks of chickens already occupying these enclosures.
We are now considering whether it might perhaps be more humane and more practical to slaughter the ducks with the help of a local poultry farmer, thus supplying ourselves with meat through the fall. We are not vegetarians, and do enjoy duck fat, confit, and meat.
My question is, does anyone have any similar or applicable experience? On the one hand, it seems a waste to slaughter a large group of ducks raised to be egg layers, who will still lay many eggs in the next couple of years. I also cannot seem to find any information on whether their age and breed would even make for good meat birds (Khaki Campbell, 1 year old).
On the other hand, it would seem rather hypocritical to refuse to slaughter the ducks and send them off to a home we knew was less than ideal, simply out of squeamishness, and to continue purchasing our meat from other suppliers. Granted, we have raised the ducks since they were a day old thinking of them only as egg layers, and perhaps it would be less uncomfortable to slaughter ducks we'd raised with the intention of eating. (That said, we have no misapprehensions about our relationship with these ducks. They are not pets, are not affectionate, and don't act like pets. We have dogs to fill that niche.)
So I am wondering if anyone might be able to weigh in on the various aspects of this -- the comparative practicality and waste in slaughtering versus not slaughtering, the suitability of Khaki Campbells as meat birds, the emotional experience of slaughtering your first birds (and perhaps birds you did not initially intend to slaughter), etc. The fall is swiftly approaching, and we have to decide the fate of our flock.
Here is my dilemma: we knew when we purchased these ducklings last year that we might not be able to stay in this house past this fall, and thus would not be able to keep the ducks for more than a year. There are several farms around here and a few private homes with livestock, and we intended to give the ducks away at the end of the fall to one of these farms or homes. We've since investigated all of the options locally, and are not at all satisfied by the quality of life our ducks could expect -- little if any room to roam, no forage, unclean conditions, low quality feed, absent predator protection, and no place to swim. It's hard to imagine our tightly-knit flock of active, somewhat high-strung ducks settling in happily with the large flocks of chickens already occupying these enclosures.
We are now considering whether it might perhaps be more humane and more practical to slaughter the ducks with the help of a local poultry farmer, thus supplying ourselves with meat through the fall. We are not vegetarians, and do enjoy duck fat, confit, and meat.
My question is, does anyone have any similar or applicable experience? On the one hand, it seems a waste to slaughter a large group of ducks raised to be egg layers, who will still lay many eggs in the next couple of years. I also cannot seem to find any information on whether their age and breed would even make for good meat birds (Khaki Campbell, 1 year old).
On the other hand, it would seem rather hypocritical to refuse to slaughter the ducks and send them off to a home we knew was less than ideal, simply out of squeamishness, and to continue purchasing our meat from other suppliers. Granted, we have raised the ducks since they were a day old thinking of them only as egg layers, and perhaps it would be less uncomfortable to slaughter ducks we'd raised with the intention of eating. (That said, we have no misapprehensions about our relationship with these ducks. They are not pets, are not affectionate, and don't act like pets. We have dogs to fill that niche.)
So I am wondering if anyone might be able to weigh in on the various aspects of this -- the comparative practicality and waste in slaughtering versus not slaughtering, the suitability of Khaki Campbells as meat birds, the emotional experience of slaughtering your first birds (and perhaps birds you did not initially intend to slaughter), etc. The fall is swiftly approaching, and we have to decide the fate of our flock.
