Why Ducks?

[chicksbestfriend]

Quote:
If I am ever out in North Carolina, can I please come to your house to eat sausage and breast of duck? Mouth watering! Would you mind sharing your recipe for the sausage?

 

[Wifezilla]

Entertainment, eggs and meat. Also slug control. Best of all, if you bonk your head and knock yourself out in the duck pen accidentally, by the time you come to, you will still be in one piece. All bets are off with chickens

 

[mandelyn]

I raised ducks once, from incubation until adulthood. At this local cemetery someone dropped off Pekins, and they laid there eggs scattered around where I could find them. Over a couple of days I collected 11, and 5 hatched, ALL HENS. Wish chickens would do that! Took my empty rabbit hutch and chopped the legs off to make them a house. Dug a hole and stuck a baby pool in it, strategically on the side of small hill, leaving one side exposed, so I could fold it in and drain it easy enough. Since they're filthy, the water doesn't stay good very long. They stunk all through brooding, it took awhile to realize you need tot keep the food very far away from the water, and the water in a small chick mason jar type... anything else they'll try and swim in it. Newspaper was the best bedding, roll it up and lay fresh twice a day. Don't get duck babies if you have OCD about cleaning.

They were hilarious though! I responded to a free add online for a duck that thought he was a poodle. I took a duck with me to keep him company on the ride home. He hid under the porch, and came out yelling when my girl duck got in his pool. We caught him and put him in the crate, and my girl duck sat on the passenger seat on the way home on a towel, with her head laid over my arm.

It took him a week to realize he was a duck. Then he knew he had 5 girlfriends!

Lot's of fun after they move outside into appropriate housing. Dog crates suck as a brooder, really you need a fish tank. LOL

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
If I am ever out in North Carolina, can I please come to your house to eat sausage and breast of duck? Mouth watering! Would you mind sharing your recipe for the sausage?

Sure come visit anytime! here is for the sausage

recipe as follows for 10 pounds of meat - on the meat we use the legs and thighs and giblets and any fat from inside the body cavity. We raise Muscovy and they tend to be very lean for a duck so the more fat the more moist the sausage will be

10 pounds duck
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 Tablespoon white pepper
2 Tablespoon salt
2 teaspoon mustard seed
1 tespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sage
1/2 cup finely mixed onion

I also added some allspice, and red pepper for some extra zing.


Here is one of our fav's for duck breast.

Breast of duck with blackberry demi-glace

Ingredients

6 duck breasts
1/2 pint fresh blackberries
1/2 cup port wine
1 tbsp cane syrup
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp minced garlic
10 black peppercorns
6 fresh basil leaves, torn
4 sprigs fresh thyme
6 fresh sage leaves, torn
1/4 cup port wine
1 tbsp minced purple shallots
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup demi glace
salt & pepper to taste
louisana hot sauce to taste

In a large mixing bowl combine duck, 1/2 cup port, syrup, bay leaf, garlic, peppercorns, basil, thyme, sage, salt & hot sauce. add duck and toss to coat well with marinade. let sit at room temp for at least 4 hours. in a large cast iron pan heat oil (we use olive or peanut) saute' duck breasts until light brown until internal temp gets to 140F, medium rare. Don't over cook or they will be tough. remove an keep warm.
Pour of all but one tablespoon of drippings, saute' shallots and garlic 2 minutes, add blackberries and remaining wine and reduce by half, pour in demi glace and reduce by 1/4. season with salt & pepper. to serve slice each breast and top with a generous portion of blackberry sauce

Demi glace 1 quart
2 quarts beef, veal, or game stock
1/2 cup white butter roux
1 ounce tomato sauce

divide stock into two saucepans and bring to a low boil. in one add the roux and wisk. as it thickens at tomato sauce and the other pan of stock slowly and cook down until you have a quart.

We serve with wild rice. Also, we found the port wine to be a little to sweet to our taste, we liked it better with a light blush type wine.

Steve

 

[Alicia G]

I got ducks because I just LOVE them! they have such personalities! I show them in 4-H and everybody always loves to see them. All my birds are very tame and I will often take them out at show to let children pet them. They just are happy go lucky animals that will put a smile on your face!

And that taste preety good too! very flavorful

 

[Javamama]

Because now I can tell stories like this:

Last night we put the light back in the coop since it's getting dark early and I need to see. So there's an extension cord on the ground now. This morning one of the ducks got left behind because she was afraid to cross the line. It was so funny. She would waddle up to it all brave and determined, then decide she couldn't do it and run away. She did this a few times before she changed tactics and decided to back up and run toward the cord while flapping her wings. That got her off the ground approximately 3 inches, but it was enough to "fly" over that red cord

They crack me up on a daily basis.

 

[gryeyes]

Awwwwwww! So cute (and funny)!

 

[Ibicella]

All three!

Duck eggs add extra height and lift to your baking. They are also very rich and have more protein than chicken eggs. They are perfect for omlets.

Duck meat is absolutely delicious.

Ducks ARE very entertaining. They will make you laugh.

They make great pets. They love their people.

A lot of people will raise ducks instead of chickens in urban areas because they are quieter.

 

[Wifezilla]

I had to laugh at that last one. Ducks ARE NOT quieter than chickens unless you are talking about a rooster. My ducks are LLOOUDDD. Well one is. The other 6 are quiet, but Abby. What a mouth!!

 

[Mozelly]

I have three ducks in with my chickens and they ARE LOUD. They make me laugh when I walk out in the morning and they start it up. They will let you know it's time to eat....ha.
They keep a good watch on the rest of the gang. They seem more alert than the chickens....well at least they're more vocal about it.