@Alaskan
Any chance you could do some butchering pictures? I will hopefully have a bunch of muscovy to butcher next fall. How old are they when you do them usually?
OK... I will make sure to take pictures.
As to the killing.. The muscovy are SO EXTREMELY CUTE, that the kids can't bleed them. They chop off the head, toss the head aside, and then they have no problems doing the rest.
Deb, I never weigh my butchered poultry.... But that sounds like a good guess as to muscovy weight... The males can be twice the weight of the girls, BIG difference.
As to when to slaughter.. It depends on if they are female, male, and what you want food wise....
When I was first starting out, I butchered both sexes... Now I sell all of the girls for big bucks for breeders.
However, back when I butchered both sexes, I would try to wait a bit longer for the girls, 4 to 6 months.... Just to get more size on them.
With the boys, the best feed to meat conversion is around 3 months, after that their growth slows down, so that meat is getting more expensive.
However, I often keep a few to butcher at 6 or even 9 months for a big gorgeous center piece fancy meal.
Supposedly, if you butcher at 12 weeks then the meat is much more like veal, but I have never butchered that young.
Also, if you want to pluck and have a pretty carcass, then of course the bird can't be molting.
We usually skin the ones that we will piece out for pastrami and parts, and pluck the ones that we want to roast for fancy feasts (Saint Martin's day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas).
