What is the fate of your ducks?

[Kathy farms]

The only reason I raise pekins is for meat.  They are the only ones I can buy locally without special ordering so they're cheap, they get big and have great flavor, and they aren't pretty enough to keep around just to watch them.  Thats what the calls and mandarins are for.

 

[Kathy farms]

The only reason I raise pekins is for meat.  They are the only ones I can buy locally without special ordering so they're cheap, they get big and have great flavor, and they aren't pretty enough to keep around just to watch them.  Thats what the calls and mandarins are for.

Unfortunately I'm currently not fortunate enough to raise mallards derivatives so I can't say much about the looks of the pekins, lol. Anyway since they provide great flavour, I guess it's still worth keeping them

 

[Kathy farms]

i really like this thread reading all the views

i too have mine as pets but also for eggs, and its hard to even give up the eggs knowing that some of them could be potential babies 

Though mine haven't started laying, nor old enough to eat, I keep wondering how I could actually pick them out and roast? :-( They funny bunch to watch.

 

[Kathy farms]

Yes....yes it does. Lol. I don't even like duck...honestly. I told him that if we become overrun with ducks, we'll sell them.

Funny enough living with them for a while will create such a bond that you'll definitely begin to like them

 

[RuzichFamily]

Unfortunately I'm currently not fortunate enough to raise mallards derivatives so I can't say much about the looks of the pekins, lol. Anyway since they provide great flavour, I guess it's still worth keeping them

It is very much worth keeping them. We enjoy watching them and interacting with them but my intent is to provide my family with as much farm raised meat/veggies and wild game as possible. We raise butcher approx 3 hogs a year, multiple chickens, turkeys, ringneck pheasant & ducks plus I try to put 3-4 deer ground into burger in the freezer, rabbits, squirrel, and last year I ended up with many bags full of wild duck & goose. Rarely do we buy meat from the store and we can or freeze the veggies we grow. All this is just part of life where I live, it's how I was raised and my kids know no different. I never enjoy the killing but the overall quality of the food is much healthier and there is no better sense of accomplishment then totally providing for one's family. Thank God I'm a farm boy.

 

[Kathy farms]

Our first 2 ducks Ettie and Tella we got for free from a co-worker of my wife. They got to be pets. Our next 11 ducks - Snow, Tevye, Kaine, Pocahontas, Greta, Roxette, Dove, Entie, Ebony, Belle, Natasha we ordered from Metzer. Natasha was a mis-pick on Metzer's part and we took her to our local feed store and she is someone else's pet (we have heard she is doing great...) Ebony and Belle, unfortunately were lost in a raccoon attack and we tightened up our security. The rest are all pets. Our next two ducks, Rhiannan and No Name were sent from Metzers to fix the mis-pick. No Name went to the feed store and found new parents there and Rhiannon became a pet. Our next two ducks, Noir and Mystique. We ordered from Metzer a bit later to replace the two that had been taken from us by the raccoons. They became pets. Occasionally (maybe every other year) we get an additional duck from Wal*mart. Not a pet. We have nothing morally against raising ducks for meat but it would be very hard to do at the same time as having ducks for pets. I could have a dozen Pekins and not be able to tell them apart and let them have babies that I still couldn't tell apart and eat eggs and ducks and sell eggs and ducks and I would be fine with that. But I couldn't have my flock, my babies, then in a separate cage have the "doomed" duck(s) for the fridge.

That's a good job and an interesting catalogue of ducks you've kept. It's extremely difficult to import ducks from overseas, if not I would have gotten some additional pack (mallard derivatives) from Metzer Farms. But I'm still trying. Naming them makes it even worse to consider culling them for the fridge, unless you're perhaps a perkin.

 

[chess0125]

We raise ducks for meat. The parents we'll keep until further notice, but every duckling they hatch we plan on stocking our freezer with. Our chickens on the other hand are just for eggs, mostly because we can't have a rooster on site. Yum!

 

[Kathy farms]

It is very much worth keeping them.  We enjoy watching them and interacting with them but my intent is to provide my family with as much farm raised meat/veggies and wild game as possible.  We raise butcher approx 3 hogs a year, multiple chickens, turkeys, ringneck pheasant & ducks plus I try to put 3-4 deer ground into burger in the freezer, rabbits, squirrel, and last year I ended up with many bags full of wild duck & goose.  Rarely do we buy meat from the store and we can or freeze the veggies we grow.  All this is just part of life where I live, it's how I was raised and my kids know no different.  I never enjoy the killing but the overall quality of the food is much healthier and there is no better sense of accomplishment then totally providing for one's family.  Thank God I'm a farm boy.

That's good sources of provision you have going.

Once the killing part is overcome, it's always a pleasure to eat from your own grown sources.

 

[Kathy farms]

We raise ducks for meat.  The parents we'll keep until further notice, but every duckling they hatch we plan on stocking our freezer with.    Our chickens on the other hand are just for eggs, mostly because we can't have a rooster on site.  Yum!

That should be the long-term plan I have as well. The first generation are safe, but any duckling is a potential for future roast.

 

[Jennn27]

Funny enough living with them for a while will create such a bond that you'll definitely begin to like them

LOL No, no...let me clarify. I LOVE pet ducks....but the taste of them? Nah....too dry.