Recent content by AA Maple

  1. AA Maple

    First time butchering, everything went wrong, & a quick question

    Hmmm. I like a very high fat content in sausage myself. Yes, I'd probably use fatback and not try to rely on anything less firm. I may try sausaging up some ducks this fall. I'd have high hopes for that and I think there's probably some traditional Chinese style recipes I could find.
  2. AA Maple

    Two ducks disappear

    Coons will absolutely carry away their victim (sometimes without a trace) and only come back in a day or three when they've finished what they took. We had a plague of them in my neighborhood last year, this year I've only seen one so far. Really I expect a lot of predators could do just...
  3. AA Maple

    Looking for duck female as a companion

    Do you have any other birds? My Rouen drake came with a hatchery assortment with a bunch of straight run chickens of assorted breeds and he seems happy enough to just be part of their flock. I even bought some white Pekins (housed separately but all roam the yard together) and he seems to...
  4. AA Maple

    First time butchering, everything went wrong, & a quick question

    Never really considered ground for poultry, but yes, considering the cuts of beef or pork that grind into an edible sausage, loaf, or patty, that's another good method to prepare tough meats. Do you add fat to your chicken sausage? Might be something worth a try for variety here.
  5. AA Maple

    First time butchering, everything went wrong, & a quick question

    I imagine Yakety Sax playing as I read this. I tried broomstick once and was not impressed. I would highly encourage everybody trying to dispatch birds to use a cone (or feed bag with a corner cut out for the neck for very large turkeys) to keep them from flopping around violently after the...
  6. AA Maple

    Complete hatching noob with broody hen. Got a few questions.

    New count. Total of 11. That's 100%, pretty good for a first time mom. All are learning to pick and scratch and have found the food and water. Every single one of them has feathered shanks like dad, three of my hens are crested breeds but that trait may be recessive because none of these...
  7. AA Maple

    Complete hatching noob with broody hen. Got a few questions.

    Neighbor has a cheap incubator which will probably do the job of finishing off the last few days the duck eggs will need. I did put food and water right next to the "nest" so perhaps her and the chicks will continue to post up there for a little while longer. Looks like she has a half a...
  8. AA Maple

    Complete hatching noob with broody hen. Got a few questions.

    Update. Looks like she has half a dozen chicks under her. I've just moved the "nest" down to ground level. I hope I can get her to stick with the nest for another week to see if any ducklings will hatch. It's a bit cool today so they seem dug in pretty deep, I'll try to update with...
  9. AA Maple

    meat birds

    Nice! My neighbor and I split 100 broilers with me so hopefully between the two of us we can recruit a few more volunteers to get a big assembly line going.
  10. AA Maple

    Complete hatching noob with broody hen. Got a few questions.

    I did stuff 4 duck eggs under mamma this morning. She fluffed herself up to double her normal size and pecked at me a bit but seemed to settle back down to her work after I left the coop. Looks like chickens are 21 days and duck eggs 28 though. Not sure what my game plan is if she gets a...
  11. AA Maple

    Complete hatching noob with broody hen. Got a few questions.

    That must have been something. I guess day old chicks have to be built to take a fall. Anyway, thanks for taking the time for that thorough explanation. Luckily she is in a different coop from the rest of the flock now. They all took to laying up on the perch of my (currently vacant) meat...
  12. AA Maple

    What should I feed meat ducklings?

    None of them seem to be even slightly interested in setting on their eggs, though I may try tossing a few eggs under a Buff Orpington that is trying to set. I've been considering buying into an incubator but I really don't want to have to deal with ducklings in a brooder so if I can't get a...
  13. AA Maple

    I have no idea what I'm doing.

    If you want them to even live for 2 months you'll want to start taking the feed away from them for 12 hours a day by around week 4. They will literally eat themselves to death if you allow them free access to feed day and night. I've read reports of people keeping these (on a strict diet)...
  14. AA Maple

    What should I feed meat ducklings?

    I did a couple dozen Pekins last year and just gave them the "grower" feed I got in bulk from the local feed mill. Let them out to forage as soon as they were trained to go back into their house at night and they were all healthy and happy. Sent 14 of them to the freezer and kept a drake and...
  15. AA Maple

    meat birds

    Hope you have a few friends to help with all this. Me plus 1 friend only use one cone. My helper will grab a bird, behead it and rinse while I eviscerate and pluck. I find you don't want them sitting in the cone longer than necessary for draining or they'll stiffen up and get harder to work...
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