Has anyone ever done the math...

[galanie]

The thing about the cornish x is, even if you have to check water more often or whatever, it's only for 6-8 weeks. Not 16+ weeks. We all have our takes on it, though

 

[johnsons-r-us]

Quote:
Yes, that's true! I've thought of that. I would like to try a few at some point. I just figure at the point I get a bunch then I'm tied down and that's when something happens! Nearly all our family lives in different states....so travel is always a possibility. I believe I will try it with a few at some point. Just to see the differences. We don't have someone home 24/7 most weeks, so that's a big deal when your talking passing the responsibility to someone else.

I saw your signature says both mealwork and earthworm farms......I'd love to know more about these. Could we start another post?

 

[Oregon Blues]

[[[..........Do you mind Oregon Blues if I ask this...with the pekin ducks...could I in theory start with hatchery ducks and kept the best for breeding, eating the rest and going forward from there? ....]]]]

Metzers hatchery has an imported French Pekin that is especially selected for meat production. They offer 3 different Pekins. The one you want to look at is the Grimaud Pekin. I've never ordered any of them, but I've spoken to people who are very happy with their Pekins from Metzers.

My Pekins came from a private party. I didn't order them. They arrived instead of the Swedish ducks I ordered. But I liked them well enough to keep a trio of the fasted growing ones in the group. The largest drake also happened to be the best temperament in the group, so win/win for me.

My only experience with ducklings from one of the big name, high volume hatcheries was a bit disappointing. It would have been hard work to breed them up to the point where they were acceptable. Feed conversion was really poor and temperaments weren't good.

Pekins are available on Craigslist all the time. The poor things are cursed with being the Easter Throwaway Duckie of choice. That's one way to get cheap or even free breeding stock and to be able to get a look at what size they are and how they behave.

My experience with ducks is that the ones that are calm natured are the ones with the best feed conversion. The high strung hysterical ones have lousy feed conversion, plus they are miserable to work with.

 

[EggsForIHOP]

Ah...good ol' craigslist...LOL...SOMETIMES! Sometimes you find light at the end of the craigslist tunnel...and sometimes you just get a rock in your trick or treat bag!

I'm just mostly thinking of practicing with the hatchery ducks - IF I am any good at the "duck scene" then I would probably move forward as I did with other things...I've just never kept a duck alive longer than a few days - not since I was a kid, and really, my mom was doing all the work then

Every now and then I have a partner in crime (my friend) that will find crossbred/mutt ducks pretty cheap, and we'll keep them long enough to get organized and process them (the last batch she found was still kinda young and small - but they were still oh so tasty delicious!)...but I've yet to actually raise a duck on my own from start to finish. It was on last year's "to-do list" and got scrapped when other things came up...So I would like to practice some first, see what I get and how I do.

Also, I could see how a calm duck would do better in the feed conversion sense than a skitzy duck...all I have to do is look out at my horses and I can tell you the calmer an animal is, the easier it is to keep fat and the harder it is to get it to loose weight! I've also been eyeballing Metzers...plotting...planning... - something to keep in mind come spring for sure...After this batch of broilers is done, there shall be no more brooding of anything until after all the goats have kidded. I only want one kind of baby at one time - that's more than enough babies for me

But ducks are in the future as we love duck but I for one am NOT sitting in a cold duck blind waiting to shoot anything if all I really have to do is go out in the yard and decide which one is for dinner!

 

[kfacres]

Here's my take on the subject..

Either way, I see the feed bill as irrelevent. If you keep a DP bird, for twice as long, but they eat half as much... does it matter if your glass is half full, or half empty? If you're planning on free ranging, most likely you'll free range with either scenario to help with feed costs.

If you want to save money, by not buying chicks every year, go DP. On the other hand, if you don't want to spend the money to maintain a trio of breeder birds for an entire year- go CX. I'd say that those two will basically cancel each other out as well.

So to sum it up:

If your after a quick turnaround, or tons of efficient meat yield- go the CX route.

If your after a enjoyment, family affair, with more "flavor" meat (or tougher, IMO), then go the DP route.

If you want a carcass comparible to a small turkey- go CX

If you want a carcass with more meat than a quail- go DP

Now, I wouldn't be an American, if I didn't do a little self promoting... Personally, for a family of two-- I feel the Cornish bantam might be the way to go, even for a family of three (eat two of them). My SQ/ BQ Cornish bantams eat very little, have monsterously positive ratios of meat to bone to size, and can self reproduce- giving you the all around good meat bird option.