No longer a plucking virgin!!

[Tartannik]

I am quite proud of myself today!!
In May my friend had given me 3 duck eggs to put in my incubator to see if they would hatch, we honestly didn't think they would.
Well.....all 3 hatched and as it turns out all 3 were boys! As she already had a 2 girls and a boy it wasn't going to work so we decided to eat them!
My friend's hubby did the killing, then all 3 of us had a duck each and we plucked! First time ever for me, then I helped to gut them too. Was much easier than i thought it would be, I didn't seem to mind it at all (although every now and again I get a picture in my head of cute little ducklings!!)
So, tonight me and family ate two of them. Two of my kids wouldn't touch them as they had 'known' them but the other dug in, lol!! They were gorgeous, nice a juicy and not at all dry!
Think I might think about raising chickens for the table now! Are rooster or hens preferable?? I was thinking roo's as you normally have too many of them when you hatch them out???

 

[Ibicella]

Males and females taste the same pretty much! You should just research to see if you'd like to raise a meat bird like a Freedom Ranger or Cornish Cross, or dual purpose sorts like heritage breeds or whatnot.

Glad to hear that pluckin' your ducks turned out so well!

 

[RoosterGeek]

Did you scald them to loosen the feathers up or did you dry pluck? I have heard it can be hard to get the water through the feathers on ducks. My wife and I plan on processing a duck for Thanksgiving and were curious about your experience.


Congrats on plucking your first birds, by the way!

 

[andysforrest]

Congratulations on your conquest! We raised meat chickens this year, and home-butchered them in August. It was a huge learning experience, but we're ready to do it again next year. We still have 11 birds in our freezer, all over 8 lbs in size. Comparitively, organic meat chickens weighing about 4 lbs at our local farmer's market cost $23. We figure we spent about $7 per bird, between the chick cost and feed. Definitely worth the effort! And so delicious!!!

Andy

 

[Tartannik]

Quote:
Thank you
We dry plucked, they were still warm and the feathers came out pretty easily. My friends had told me ducks were harder than plucking chickens but they then said maybe the fact they were still a wee bit warm helped!!

Congratulations on your conquest! We raised meat chickens this year, and home-butchered them in August. It was a huge learning experience, but we're ready to do it again next year. We still have 11 birds in our freezer, all over 8 lbs in size. Comparitively, organic meat chickens weighing about 4 lbs at our local farmer's market cost $23. We figure we spent about $7 per bird, between the chick cost and feed. Definitely worth the effort! And so delicious!!!

Andy

Sounds great, and I really do believe they taste so much superior to even shop bought organic/free range chickens, the ducks certainly did!​