Yesterday the wife and I processed the 16 Pekin Ducks we raised up to one day shy of 12 wks old. They dressed out anywhere from 4 3/4 - 5 1/4 lbs. The equipment line-up consisted of the cone stand, scalding water, EZ 151 plucker, hot wax pot, ice water tub.
The scalding water contained a good shot of Dawn dish soap, and measured 160°. I dipped them about a minute in the water until a wing feather could be pulled easily, and then put a couple at a time in the plucker. I have to say that the plucker removed about 20% of the feathers. I also tried one duck at a time in the plucker and found that it didn't tear the skin like it would on a chicken. The amount of feathers removed on a single duck was still in the 20% range.
The wax bath required that I bring the water to boiling in order to melt the wax. Once I hit the boiling point, I turn the heat off and waited for the wax to melt completely. Regarding the wax, I did shop around and took the cheapest price on "Duck Wax". I did notice that this wax as it melted, did give off a petroleum smell. I thought it might effect the meat, but so far it hasn't.
I dipped the ducks in the hot wax for about 10 seconds. Enough to allow the bird to warm and for the wax to cling to the feathers. I immediately immersed the bird in the ice water bath. After a few minutes of cooling, I found that holding the bird under the water and removing the wax seemed to work the best.
I had a wax bucket that I put the feathered wax into. I thought I had a good idea of periodically throwing the feather wax back into the hot wax pot to replenish the wax in the water. Well, doing this puts a whole lot of feathers in the wax pot. Skimming them out also removes the wax from the water. Since feathers and wax both float, I see no way of reclaiming the wax from the feathers. I came to the conclusion to toss the whole works afterwards when it hardened, and purchase new wax every time we do ducks. Duck wax does bring a premium price and I was thinking that maybe paraffin might be an alternative method and possibly cheaper.
The ducks after gutting, were rinsed out and immediately put into a cooler of water and ice. Today I found the ducks to be very cold and the skin to be stiff. The stiff skin made breasting them out very easy.
Now this was the first time the wife and I did ducks. The total time to kill and dress 16 ducks was around 5 1/2 hours. She is currently vacuum sealing the breasts and legs which is working out nicely.Although preparing the meat by taking out the stray pin feathers with tweezers is proving to be time consuming.
In looking back at this adventure, I'd have to say that I'd do it again, but maybe with only 12 ducks! I still question my scalding time and also the type of wax used. I do think a pinning knife is a must which we did use. Like anything else, it was somewhat of a steep learning curve, but I expected that for the first time. If anyone has some suggestions to cut the total time down via an easier process, I'd certainly be interested in hearing your methods.
Regards
The scalding water contained a good shot of Dawn dish soap, and measured 160°. I dipped them about a minute in the water until a wing feather could be pulled easily, and then put a couple at a time in the plucker. I have to say that the plucker removed about 20% of the feathers. I also tried one duck at a time in the plucker and found that it didn't tear the skin like it would on a chicken. The amount of feathers removed on a single duck was still in the 20% range.
The wax bath required that I bring the water to boiling in order to melt the wax. Once I hit the boiling point, I turn the heat off and waited for the wax to melt completely. Regarding the wax, I did shop around and took the cheapest price on "Duck Wax". I did notice that this wax as it melted, did give off a petroleum smell. I thought it might effect the meat, but so far it hasn't.
I dipped the ducks in the hot wax for about 10 seconds. Enough to allow the bird to warm and for the wax to cling to the feathers. I immediately immersed the bird in the ice water bath. After a few minutes of cooling, I found that holding the bird under the water and removing the wax seemed to work the best.
I had a wax bucket that I put the feathered wax into. I thought I had a good idea of periodically throwing the feather wax back into the hot wax pot to replenish the wax in the water. Well, doing this puts a whole lot of feathers in the wax pot. Skimming them out also removes the wax from the water. Since feathers and wax both float, I see no way of reclaiming the wax from the feathers. I came to the conclusion to toss the whole works afterwards when it hardened, and purchase new wax every time we do ducks. Duck wax does bring a premium price and I was thinking that maybe paraffin might be an alternative method and possibly cheaper.
The ducks after gutting, were rinsed out and immediately put into a cooler of water and ice. Today I found the ducks to be very cold and the skin to be stiff. The stiff skin made breasting them out very easy.
Now this was the first time the wife and I did ducks. The total time to kill and dress 16 ducks was around 5 1/2 hours. She is currently vacuum sealing the breasts and legs which is working out nicely.Although preparing the meat by taking out the stray pin feathers with tweezers is proving to be time consuming.
In looking back at this adventure, I'd have to say that I'd do it again, but maybe with only 12 ducks! I still question my scalding time and also the type of wax used. I do think a pinning knife is a must which we did use. Like anything else, it was somewhat of a steep learning curve, but I expected that for the first time. If anyone has some suggestions to cut the total time down via an easier process, I'd certainly be interested in hearing your methods.
Regards
