Suddenly duck (also what breed? Lol)

[KrampusCat]

So my boyfriend's boss was looking to get rid of a duck and we decided to take it for food and to see how the dogs would react to smaller animals in the house/yard that aren't deer, rodents, or neighbor's cats. (They're afraid lol, it snapped at them)

We're probably just going to use a hatchet, and we know how to process, but I was wondering what would be best for cooking... Plucking or skinning?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Looks like a black swedish, maybe a Swedish mix. Plucking is best if you want that crispy skin, but skinning is way easier and faster (especially if you don't have a plucker to do it for you)

 

[KrampusCat]

Looks like a black swedish, maybe a Swedish mix. Plucking is best if you want that crispy skin, but skinning is way easier and faster (especially if you don't have a plucker to do it for you)

No plucking contraption, but it's not like I'm doing anything tomorrow after running to the store in the morning lol. This is the first live bird we've received. We had two freshly hunted geese last year, but we just breasted them

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Then personally I would pluck. I love the skin on my birds though

 

[HappyDuckie]

I would also pluck it.

 

[mosseater]

either skin it or use a wax dip to pluck it. ducks have so many feathers

 

[Anime2lover]

So my boyfriend's boss was looking to get rid of a duck and we decided to take it for food and to see how the dogs would react to smaller animals in the house/yard that aren't deer, rodents, or neighbor's cats. (They're afraid lol, it snapped at them)

We're probably just going to use a hatchet, and we know how to process, but I was wondering what would be best for cooking... Plucking or skinning?

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That looks like my pekin mix called Oreo.

As for preparation, plucking is the way we go, having the skin keeps it from drying out to much. To make it easier without a plucker, put a large pot to a low boil, bring it out just after you cull, and dunk the whole bird for 5 seconds, or more if needed. But doing it to long makes the skin easy to rip.

 

[mosseater]

It looks like a swedish duck, but it could easily be a mixed breed. that feather pattern is very common in ducks. those genes are dominant over other common color patterns like all white and the splotchy colors of anconas and magpies.

skinning is easier, but you do lose a lot of value in the fat that you can render from skin scraps. I was able to render a full cup of fat from every drake that I butchered last year. I've heard that a goose can produce up to a quart of fat per bird.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

To make it easier without a plucker, put a large pot to a low boil, bring it out just after you cull, and dunk the whole bird for 5 seconds, or more if needed. But doing it to long makes the skin easy to rip.

This is how I process my Pekins, just like I process my chickens. A good pair of tweezers helps, if your timing is bad (mine was last time). Ducks best processed around 7-8, 12-13, and 18 weeks of age, between periods of pin feather growth. I was mistaken last time, took about 4x longer to process than normal.

 

[Anime2lover]

This is how I process my Pekins, just like I process my chickens. A good pair of tweezers helps, if your timing is bad (mine was last time). Ducks best processed around 7-8, 12-13, and 18 weeks of age, between periods of pin feather growth. I was mistaken last time, took about 4x longer to process than normal.

I've had those before.