I ordered 200 chicks- It's Promiselandfarm & Perfectly_polish's fault

[PurpleChicken]

http://www.jmhatchery.com/White-Muscovy-Ducks-p4.html

12 pounds in 12 weeks.... Hmmmm

 

[MaineChickens]

For what it is worth...

My experience with pekins is that the only size difference in the end result from 7 weeks of age, and 12 weeks is a gain in internal fat. Overall they are easier to process at 7 weeks. There was no measurable meat gain in that time.

They are still a plucking nightmare either way. They are waterproof and have down that makes pin feathers look like childsplay. I did 4 one day and my hands hurt for 3 days. Chickens are easy compared to that fiasco.

That being said, they are very tasty. I have 5 in my freezer now, and 6 more outside, but I am ready to give them away instead of processing them myself.

 

[perfectly_polish]

Quote:
PC...


Doooooo ittttt.


You know you want to, and your wife will love those cute little ducks.

 

[perfectly_polish]

Quote:
Do you think using a plucker on the ducks would be easier then hand plucking?

 

[tattooedchickenlady]

I'll et y'all know what they say, and I WILL post pictures when I get them. Y'all wanna see pics of my other 2 orders I'm expecting too? I'll need help. I'm a remedial computer user!

I bet duck would be good in the fryer, I might bake it a while first to get the fat out from under the skin, unless of course you skin them at processing

It's really, really good thing y'all aren't closer to me, I'd be in sssooooo much trouble with the hubs!
and PC, I'm a stay at home mom, so I do have the time these days, when (and if!) I go back to work it'll be a different story, but for now, I'm good.

 

[tattooedchickenlady]

PP y'all could do the skinning method on them to eliminate all that trouble

 

[perfectly_polish]

Quote:
That's true, but the skin is the best part on the duck

 

[tattooedchickenlady]

I bet it would be crispy and yummy!
It's worth a try!

 

[MaineChickens]

Quote:
If you can get the scald right it couldn't hurt. Worth a try. Not sure how it would handle the down. All the plucking resources on the web do not talk about mechanical pluckers though- so I am not sure they work on ducks.

Scovies would be better than pekins, longer turn around, but great meat.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
If you can get the scald right it couldn't hurt. Worth a try. Not sure how it would handle the down. All the plucking resources on the web do not talk about mechanical pluckers though- so I am not sure they work on ducks.

Scovies would be better than pekins, longer turn around, but great meat.

Thanks for the thoughts MaineChickens. My understanding of any water fowl, including
ducks, is to use a mechanical plucker but don't scald them. The second thing I read
was to add a little dish detergent to the scalding water to cut down on the oils. There
are several hunting websites out there that talk about it.

It's also really interesting about the fat content increasing after 7 weeks.