Foie gras

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

This might be a stupid question, but would a finishing diet of mostly corn produce similar results?

Good question. I was also wondering if a mix of the duck fat (from cooking a whole duck) could be puréed with a normal liver, to make a “fatty liver” pate?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Good question. I was also wondering if a mix of the duck fat (from cooking a whole duck) could be puréed with a normal liver, to make a “fatty liver” pate?

Fake Foie Gras - or to keep it French »Faux Foie Gras« - Try it out, maybe you're on to something and save a lot of ducks and geese from misery.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

As of Dec 22, 2015, this is still done:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...ed-and-killed-at-farm-in-france-a6783461.html

Be aware that the video is pretty awful.

Unfortunately, this is the same thing that happens to male ducklings and male chicks at hatcheries so they can sell sexed females. I'm not saying it's any less horrible, but it is sadly very common.
This practice seems especially wasteful, however, since those ducklings could be sold since they aren't male.

 

[johntfs]

Didn't read the article but i watched the short video, I'm sure lots of other places cull ducklings.

That's not really my issue. Fine, cull the ducklings. But they don't take the half a second to snap their little necks to give them a merciful death before they're ground up. They toss them into the grinder alive, so they feel pain and fear, feebly struggling and suffering before they die. It's just the utter lack of decency and compassion that makes me despise this whole fois gras concept.

 

[johntfs]

Unfortunately, this is the same thing that happens to male ducklings and male chicks at hatcheries so they can sell sexed females. I'm not saying it's any less horrible, but it is sadly very common.
This practice seems especially wasteful, however, since those ducklings could be sold since they aren't male.

That's the other part that gets me about this. Fine, you don't care about cute ducklings, compassion for life and the like. But what about basic greed? A ten count of unsexed Pekin Ducklings runs $59.99 from Tractor Supply Company. That's before tax or shipping. Translated into Euros, that's 53.75 per ten. So, if these people are chopping up even 200 ducklings when they sort them, that's over 1000 Euros they're kissing goodbye.

 

[Miss Lydia]

It’s enough to keep us from ordering from hatcheries. Or should once we know what they are doing to unwanted poultry. Buy from breeders. Or adopt rescues!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

It’s enough to keep us from ordering from hatcheries. Or should once we know what they are doing to unwanted poultry. Buy from breeders. Or adopt rescues!

I agree 100%. In my opinion slaughtering roosters and drakes to eat or putting them into bachelor pads is much better than killing them at one day old.

 

[Ratchnick]

That's the other part that gets me about this. Fine, you don't care about cute ducklings, compassion for life and the like. But what about basic greed? A ten count of unsexed Pekin Ducklings runs $59.99 from Tractor Supply Company. That's before tax or shipping. Translated into Euros, that's 53.75 per ten. So, if these people are chopping up even 200 ducklings when they sort them, that's over 1000 Euros they're kissing goodbye.

The problem is finding someone who wants to buy in their quantity. Who do you think wants 100,000 ducks a year? Even culling that many ducklings would be a problem, you would have to cull 49 ducks an hour for a full work year.

 

[imnukensc]

I've only had foie gras once in my life and I loved it. Hard to believe since I can't stand liver.

 

[Trimurtisan]

This thread is a great example why I don't travel far from my own thread. This belongs in the meat section where slaughter and processing are expected, not in the duck section where most of us keep them as pets.