Butchering duck: Any tips?

[Allie Grace Sanders]

So I got three Rouen ducklings at Rural King. I have two males and a female. They are 12 wks now and the drake feathers are coming in on the two of them, they hiss when they quack, and they have green bills. I don't want mating drama and I am not interested in getting more females. I want to use a hatchet. Any tips for a first timer?
Thanks in advance,

-Allie-

 

[EggSighted4Life]

So I got three Rouen ducklings at Rural King. I have two males and a female. They are 12 wks now and the drake feathers are coming in on the two of them, they hiss when they quack, and they have green bills. I don't want mating drama and I am not interested in getting more females. I want to use a hatchet. Any tips for a first timer?
Thanks in advance,

-Allie-

Couple of tips maybe...

I here dicks are MUCH harder to do than chickens. Hard to get the water to the skin for plucking. But also that they need to be plucked during specific weeks of growth to avoid issue with plucking pin feathers that won't come out. You may consider skinning them as an alternative if harvesting the skin for preparation isn't a big deal. Taken from Metzer also...

"As waterfowl have so many feathers, you want to pluck them when it is the easiest to get them all out. This is when the feathers are all mature and there are no pin (or immature) feathers. For ducks this is at about 7, 12.5 or 18 weeks of age. For geese it is normally at 9, 15 or 20 weeks of age. If you try to process between these "windows of opportunity" you will encounter large numbers of pin feathers that may double or triple your processing time and effort."

Hatchet scares me I might cut my own leg off. I use a cone. But will you have help or be doing this on your own? Have you already worked out how to restrain?

Metzer suggest...
**We suggest you add 40 mg/kg of Zinc Methionine and increase Vitamin K to 50 mg/kg and Vitamin E to 5.0 mg/kg for the last three to four weeks before processing to help prevent bruising - especially if your birds will be transported in coops to the plant.

You won't be transporting so maybe not as much of an issue... but I put it out there since I remembered seeing it, just in case it is helpful.

Also... don't forget to "rest" the carcass before freezing so rigor can pass.

One last thing... I think there is some sort of wax that might help with processing waterfowl. Ok, one last last thing... when I raised ducks their mating antics didn't seem to start as early as chickens. But I do know all will be individuals and it may even be relative to time of year for hatch and such... so probably good to be prepared like you are getting.

Good luck! It's a worthy goal. Hope you enjoy. (that's just for effect I haven't eaten any yet)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Are you going to butcher all 3? I understand the necks of water fowl are much tougher than a chicken so be aware of that. @Allie Grace Sanders

 

[pamelajean]

How did this go @Allie Grace Sanders ? Any tips? I lost the duckling lottery this year and got three males. With only 2 adult females, this will not work so my husband wants to eat them. They are only 7 weeks so we have about a month before harvest. (We will see if he actually will go through with it).