Best Breed for meat

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

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To me they taste like roast beef, especially when prepared in a crock pot.

I'm in the process of switching my breeding stock over to the white muscovy that is sold by JM Hatchery. They claim to be 50% bigger than other muscovies. Right now they are only three weeks old. My current drakes will be culled if it works out.

 

[kingmt]

Nice thread. All I have eaten so far is a mallard & it was amazing. Now I'm looking into meat ducks & glad I found this thread. I think the mallard taste a little like a porterhouse cut of beef but in my opinion just a little better (which is hard to say when that is my favorite cut of steak).

Not to hijack your thread but what meat bird is equivalent to these?

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

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I don't know. That is why I bought some wild mallard breeding stock from Welps hatchery. The die hard duck hunter crowd wants wild mallards to eat. I figure I would charge about $7.50 each dressed. Heard the Rouens are very much like the wild mallard in taste.

 

[kingmt]

Quote:
I don't know. That is why I bought some wild mallard breeding stock from Welps hatchery. The die hard duck hunter crowd wants wild mallards to eat. I figure I would charge about $7.50 each dressed. Heard the Rouens are very much like the wild mallard in taste.

$7.50? I paid 5 for ducklings. If you are close enough I will buy my meat from you. After 6 mounts I had a bird that was the size of a small pullet after dressing. I didn't know anything about ducks when I got them & still don't for that mater. I love the taste of duck eggs & the looks of the mallard so that was what I bought. Then I found out I needed a permit to keep them. I never got the permit & plan to faze them out soon.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

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I paid that much too for ducklings for my breeding stock. However, they only weigh two to three pounds as an adult, which should translate to about ten pounds of feed. This would be about $1.60 in feed at $0.16 per 100 pounds. So, if I raise my own, that would leave almost $5 clear since I do my own processing, and only spend maybe $1 to do it.

I sell live ducks, but include free processing at the customer's request. It doesn't take much to dress a small mallard.

 

[kingmt]

Quote:
I paid that much too for ducklings for my breeding stock. However, they only weigh two to three pounds as an adult, which should translate to about ten pounds of feed. This would be about $1.60 in feed at $0.16 per 100 pounds. So, if I raise my own, that would leave almost $5 clear since I do my own processing, and only spend maybe $1 to do it.

I sell live ducks, but include free processing at the customer's request. It doesn't take much to dress a small mallard.

I've only done one & skinned it but next time I will try plucking it.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

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What I do is scald at 150 degrees F until the wing/tail feathers are loose. Then I quickly pluck and then dip into duck wax at 160 degrees F. After cooling, the wax peels off with the remaining feathers.