Raising & Processing Muskovy Ducks

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

glad to help!

Steve

 

[chickincoop]

We had Muscovy duck for a big family dinner this weekend. I roasted them in oven bags with a sauce of pureed cranberry sauce, orange juice, and a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch. They were tender and delicious (they were whole, skinless birds). The oven bags kept the meat from drying out. I cut the meat off the bone and sliced it up to serve. The lower legs I kept whole, and the children loved them! There wasn't any left, and the cats got the little bits of meat that were left on the carcasses.

 

[Rod W]

Quote:
Question????--- Why don't more people pluck their muscovies rather than skin them?? I have never done muscovies myself, (hopefully whithin the next 2 weeks) but I have been told by some folks in Nicaragua that have one of my pluckers that the plucker does an excellent job on them!! The skin seals in the moisture, adds more flavor ( to ALL birds) and on wild duck, the first piece I go for, the thigh with leg attached, quite small on the wild ducks, but I would think LARGE AND DELICIOUS on the much larger, tame MUSCOVY!! Thank You, ROD

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Muscovies are very hard to pluck, when plucking them it's best to pull up a chair...... you're going to be there awhile. They are kind of like geese very waterproof and hard to get the scald to the skin.



Steve

 

[chickincoop]

We may build a plucker down the road. This is our first year with Muscovies, but honestly, they are so tasty skinless (and not greasy at all!), that we have only skinned them so far. I have plucked other, smaller, water birds/ducks and do not really want to do multiple Muscovies by hand, LOL! I am sure they are delicious skin on, too. Also, this time of year there are so many flies and yellowjackets, we try to process when it is cool and as quickly as possible. I hope you enjoy yours as much as we do ours! We have a few more that are about ready. We butchered between 10 and 12 weeks, but we are going to wait until 16 weeks of age for the next ones. We are trying to see which age we prefer for taste, tenderness, etc. However, we had a very mean, aggressive male that kept attacking everyone, (especially me!) who was almost a year old, and after about 4 months of trying everyone's advice to no avail, he came after me relentlessly one day using his claws like talons, and flying at me and I could hardly keep him off of me. He was pushing 20 pounds, and was very strong. We have small children and decided we couldn't risk the damage he might do to one of them, so, his goose was cooked! We skinned him, ate the breast (the legs are still in the freezer awaiting more legs!) and he was delicious! Not ducky, livery, or strong. And he was definitely full of hormones!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

thanks for sharing that chickencoop - great info.

 

[jeb251]

was he tough?

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

This one wasn't. It was falling off the bone screaming "eat me"

Steve

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

aww steve that's not fair!

 

[BirdBrain]

I was looking forward to some muscovies for meat this fall but the USPS intervened and all I have is 5 pets. So I'll have to wait for them to lay this spring. I'll let them set and eat the offspring. I was talking to Dr. Smith at Country Hatchery and he said to butcher at 20 weeks. Anyone gave experience butchering at that age?