Best breed for dark meat?

[Arielle]

That's hilarious! I got muscovies last year to be meat birds. I took one of the drakes at 11 weeks, and he was pretty delicious. I've kept one drake and three ducks to see if they would make a sustainable backyard flock. So no one else has been eaten yet, and they are pushing ten months now. Maybe I'll just try to be patient with the scovies. I just thought a small batch of chickens would stock my freezer until the muscovies get rolling. Maybe someone will start nesting in the next few weeks. Thanks.

You can hatch in the incubator too- though I found my muscovy hens had better hatch rates than me; when they are broodie I stick eggs under them. I keep the fastest growing babies to add to the breeding pool.

A friend of mine says she scalds ducks in near boiling water! She said that's the key to loosening the feathers. Other folks have said to add a bit of dish soap to the scalding water. I plan to try boiling water with dish soap. THe worst that will happen is I ruin the skin, and if I can't pluck it, I'm skinning it anyway!

I was in a hurry last time, and didn't go witht he soap-- Stripped clean pretty quick, except for a few wing feathers. Maybe it is the boiling water that I use-- that is how I was taught by an African. I can do 3 chickens per pot of boiling water.

Cayuga ducks. They are melanistic so their skin is very dark and this seems to have an impact on their flesh which is almost b`lack. also they only take about 6 weeks to be table ready

Interesting-- does that mean silkies are table ready faster too?