Yeah Steemroo, used to bake with those big duck eggs. Awesome for angel food cake! I had to stop eating them as my body didn't agree with them. Go fig!
We brine our holiday turkeys (we buy free range at a specialty market) and those are great! Haven't brined our chickens yet. Although I request it of the hubby! The thighs & especially legs, can be a bit on the tough side. Depends on breed too! We harvested 7 breeds of birds last year @ 19 weeks (should have done a bit sooner, perhaps). Both pullets & roos. I would say the Golden Laced Wyandotte roos were very good, flavourful, & tenderest all over! The Partridge Chanteclers were also quite good, & had a pleasant bite to the dark meat. Not stringy. Ordering more chicks for our next tasting panel. I kept a large Cuckoo Marans roo from this flock for future breeding. I will keep some of the biggest birds from this year's chicks, to propagate my self sustaining flock.
As fast as those cornish X birds grow, I just don't like their inability to behave like natural chickens. I know we will never come close to reproducing their freakish efficiency at converting feed to tender muscle. We prefer real food, that nature intended. That being said, I don't begrudge anyone who wants to raise cornish X. They are easy on the pocketbook. I just don't enjoy watching birds that sit, eat, & won't move 3 feet to get to water. Then having to watch up to 1/4 (?) of them die of heart attacks and other health problems associated with fast growth. To each his/her own.
Mine do all free range by 8 weeks of age. Some breeds are better foragers than others. You can google Henderson's Chicken Breed Chart. A great resource! Will help narrow down your choices. From there you can google particular breeds & find out more about their specific traits, behaviours, etc,....And always remember, there are exceptions to every rule! As with any animal, they can have their own distinct personalities. Good or bad.
About duck plucking, think we didn't scald him long enough. He was a big boy, about 2/3 the size of a Canada Goose. Again, we were total newbs at it! Whizbang does the deed in about 30 sec. per chicken! We have done up to 3 small birds at once in less than a minute. Joy! I'm not averse to hand plucking a bird. It can be a zen-like activity. Is seldom that we ever need to do just one bird though! There's my rant for the morning!
. That was a great tag you put on the photo, though, Friginchi.
