A Right Time to Process?

[smartinholm]

Is there a 'best' age to process muscovies for the table?  I did all of mine last year age 18 weeks or older...I found them *really* hard to pluck and eventually gave up and skinned them.  Maybe I was waiting for them to get full size and I shouldn't have?  I'm still learning how to cook duck as well, so some were tender and some not, but that was probably cooking error.  I wonder though about the plucking...is it easier when they're younger?  I was planning this year to try some at 8, 10, 12, 14, etc weeks and do a little experiment of my own.  Anybody done this already and can tell me what to expect?
Sharon in E TX

[Rusticular]

Hi Sharon,
I started preparing my birds for the table at 12 weeks, and the longer I left them the harder it got. I have read recently, on the Australian Poultry Forum I think, that it is best to prepare them before their first adult moult, ie at about 12/13 weeks.

They are now 15 weeks, and I douse them in water which has just boiled, the feathers are much easier to remove, and at this age the down which has developed also comes off easily. Try not to pull too many feathers at once.

If the water is hot enough the skin and toe nail comes easily off the feet. If the water is too hot you cook them and the skin will break, ditto if you pull too hard.

The feathers are rich in nitrogen and good for the garden.

Salt in the water seems to help it boil faster, I also tried water softener to help get through the natural oil barrier, but I can't say I proved it works.

Hope this helps, it's worth the effort they are delicious.

regards
Russell

[smartinholm]

Thanks, I'll definitely start earlier then.  Last year was my first year to process, and I was squeamish and procrastinating.  I won't have that problem this year.
I was going to try the hot water thing...but I didn't have an outside source of heat for the water and the pot was so big that it would've been dangerous trying to tote it outside full of hot water!  Maybe I'll invest this year in one of those propane heaters that they make for turkey friers.
And yes, they are indeed delicious.  Even the ones that were a little tough were great in curry.
Sharon

[Rusticular]

Hi folks,

I said water softener, I meant detergent or soil wetter.

regards
Russell

[newchicken]

I read that they start to get chewy after 11 or 12 weeks.  Is this true?

[Cathy]

Two things you might try... Dawn dish soap in the water to break down the oil, & rather than dipping them by the feet, dip them by the head.  The feathers grow front to back so are more water tight when meeting water head on.  Dipping by the head makes it so the open end meets the water first.

[msteelsos]

New to the forum and to Muscovy.
Got four June 07.
One male broke his leg (rooster harrassing him) and died. His mate flew to our pond (60 feet) and did not return to the coop. She was predatored about a week later at the pond side.
The other pair (lucked out and got two of each) did fine. First lay (30 eggs!!!) in June 08 were brooded by Isabella and a black australorp (shared the nest). However, Ferdinand was not up to snuff at that time, so no go with a hatch.
In August Isabella laid again.  I didn't pay much attention until I opened the coop around Labor Day and saw a mass of yellow out of the corner of my eye. Yellow?  Well she hatched out 12 (every egg).
I had found homes for 15 of the chickens (four years old and egg production dropped of course) thinking to get new.
Glad I waited!
We live in sw New Mexico and have a 6 acre irrigation pond in front of the house. Ducks, great blue herons, canada geese, (even some white pelicans going up the flyway) use this pond.
Until December 2008, the mating pair and the brood never went the 60 feet to the pond. They would look at it from the driveway and go back to the coop and splash in their little pools. (Talk about water use - I'd fill one up and the water was gone in and hour as they all bathed.  Ferdinand, of course, was first always.
In December, there were some freezes. I guess the flock was not happy with my ice breaking efforts because they were all at the edge of  the pond right after Christmas. After bathing, swimming, flapping, they all went home to the coop.
This lasted about a week. Then they stayed out all night.
At this time all were flying a little and fully feathered of course.
However, we have coyotes, bobcats (had one in the coop a month ago), foxes, owls, hawks etc etc.
Fully expecting to lose some to predators, we waited and watched.  
To this day we have not lost one to predators. I suppose that they have a communal watch system for protection.

The question:
Now the birds are about 24 or more weeks old.

Has anyone harvested Muscovy ducks at that age or older?

They still come up to the coop in the morning when the chickens go out or the evening before the Coupe de Ville deli closes for pellets.

That may stop as insects start.  When they were small we had grasshoppers everywhere (you could hear them under your tires on the paved roads being smooshed) so they had a protein field day. I will be interested to see them with the flies.  We have horse and cattle (and chicken and duck manure).  I got the Muscovy because they were good meat birds (these are 8lb to 12 lb) and they eat flies! (They do!).
So any experience with slaughtering older Muscovy will be appreciated.  I will, no doubt, have many more to choose from in the future.
Thanks.

[Cathy]

I think Muscovy is the same as any bird - the older they are the slower & lower you want to go w/ the cooking process.  Wish Brian Paul was around - he knows a lot about preparing & butchering them.  Might have to see if I can find some information from old Emails.

[smartinholm]

The last few I did were 8 months old.  They seem to cook up just as well as the ones I did younger, but I had waited too long for those and ended up skinning them b/c the plucking was too hard (see above).  I put some bacon on them to cook, use a turkey sized roaster bag, red wine, orange, garlic olive oil and cook on 325 for about 1 1/2 hrs.  These were whole males, about 10# before slaughter.  Pretty yummy.
Sharon in E. TX

[charlindabob]

Have a question:  If you dip a duck in boiling water or almost boiling, they say the skin will come off.  Is this feasible to do if one intends to skin the bird?  Just wondered if that is a good way to skin a duck with feathers still on or is using a knife and skinning them with it a better idea?  Thanks,....Bob

[Cathy]

I've never heard of the skin coming off when dipping, that's how we did chickens when we butchered them & it just made the feathers loose enough to pluck easily.  It did not remove the skin.  I imagine it's the same with ducks.  I think if you wanted to skin a duck you'd just do it with the feathers on.  Usually that's the reason people skin is so they don't have to pluck them, or they worry about the increased fat on the skin.  Personally I wouldn't choose to skin a bird as a general rule because that adds a lot of flavor.

[Kats]

I have been squeamish and procrastinating. Now getting to it and the birds are nearly 6 months. The water used for scalding before plucking should be 145-150˚F from everything I've read, and I'm here to say that works. Drop of detergent in the water. They are ready to be plucked when the scaly skin on the legs comes off easily.