Now where did I leave those big girl panties...?

[Wifezilla]

It was dark out by the time I got home so the boys are still alive.

I may have time this afternoon.

If OFG comes by waving granny panties, remind her I wear thongs

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Now, you do realize, the longer they live, the less SS they and you become

 

[Wifezilla]

Well, they ARE fertilizing a pea bed, but I will have to butcher them so I can plant

 

[patandchickens]

I do the same thing... my first three turkeys two years ago, broad-breasted bronzes, got really egregiously huge because they were my buddies and I kept finding reasons to put off their date with the axe. Even last year's "attack rooster" got several months' extension because, well, you know, it was always too cold or too busy or there was curling on tv that afternoon or the kids wanted to go for a hike

You'll get to them when you're ready. They'll have eaten a bit extra feed in the meantime but will still cook up just as good in the end

I thought the only plucking issue with waterfowl was the number of teeny hairy down feathers, that the REAL feathers can be dry-picked or scalded-and-picked just fine?

Pat

 

[colowyo0809]

I feel ya! ( I think CJ has a pair of thongs that might fit ya, he's girly-ish )
I need to get rid of a couple of the mille's and I was originally told that we couldn't eat them just get rid of them. Well, now I've been told butcher away because "They are mean to the babies. I saw them peck them! They gotta go!"
I want this http://hoeggergoatsupply.com/xcart/product.php?productid=4557&cat=148&page=1 before I butcher anything

 

[~gd]

I've heard the hot water (with a little dish soap) will loosen the feathers enough so it is only as hard to pluck as a chicken. Without the hot soapy dip, they are way hard to pluck.

Well I have done at least 50 ducks (Muscovy) and hundreds of chickens. I have never seen a chicken with down and pinfeathers are rare in chickens. I estimate that I can do 3 chickens in the time it takes for one duck. And thouse ducks were mostly harvested at the right time of their molt cycle. If I was off on the timing and the duck was a mess of pinfeathers, It got skinned. Muscovies do not usually have the fat layer beneath the skin in the amount that other domestic ducks do, so I roast a skinned one in a roasting bag to hold it what it does have.

 

[Wifezilla]

I think CJ has a pair of thongs that might fit ya, he's girly-ish

I think we're about the same size, but my hips are wider

You'll get to them when you're ready. They'll have eaten a bit extra feed in the meantime but will still cook up just as good in the end

Thanks Pat

As for plucking, no clue. But I just don't feel ready for that step yet...ya know?

As a motivational exercise, I have begun gather recipes. I really want to make sausage out of the dark meat
http://honest-food.net/wild-game/goose-recipes/sausages-salami/duck-sausages-hunters-style/

 

[patandchickens]

Honestly I find plucking a lot easier than skinning. For one thing you quickly get a more food-rather-than-pet looking object to work on, as opposed to when skinning it looks like just an increasingly-messy version of its live self; also (the big thing for me) I just find skinning fresh-killed still-feathered poultry *difficult*. The feathers flop over and get in the way, and the skin is attached to the carcass by *so* many obnoxious little points of connective tissue.

You might consider heating up a scalding pot even if you think you want to skin. That way if you change your mind it is ready-to-hand. It just needs to be "hot enough you don't want to keep your hand in it for more than a second".

JME,

Pat

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

Wifezilla, bring one of the ducks inside, and let it sit on your couch. after a few minutes, it will have crapped all over your furniture, and you will not be thinking about how cute they are... also, you will be eating them with a smile, and cursing them every time you set foot in the stinky livingroom.

 

[Icu4dzs]

Why not learn the secret of making PEKING duck. It was always one of the things that had to be "pre-ordered" at the Chinese restaurant when I lived in a city.
Might give you a new approach to dealing with those ducks. Bottom line is this IS their purpose unless you want them as pets.