I don't know how many of you have been paying attention to the totals on the sidebar but the 11 ducks have not been real impressive in the egg laying department this year and they were not real impressive last year either. So right now the ducks are just eating food and not really giving anything back and that is not real self sufficient.
There are several issues with the ducks. For one; there are too many drakes. There are more drakes than ducks and although they are not hurting the ducks any, there is no sense in having more drakes than ducks. Two; the duck house is in a sad state of repair and we just plain need a new one. However, neither one of those should be affecting the egg laying abilities of the ducks.
The solution to the problem is going to be that some of the drakes just have to go and we are going to need to hatch or otherwise acquire some new ducklings. I really should have been hatching and butchering ducks all along (I did with my first flock)but sometimes things just get away from me and butchering ducks is not really my favorite chore.
There is also always the option of getting rid of the ducks altogether (I did that with the first flock when I went back to school). I think I will keep them though. I missed my ducks when I got rid of the first flock and I happen to really like the ones I have now. So I think I will get the incubator set up and collect up what few duck eggs I can. I need to put in a set of quail eggs anyway.
An incubator full from last year.
Yum slow roasted duck. Maybe smoked duck would be nice. hmmmm. Good luck lol
ReplyDeleteLOl, yeah, I was thinking of smoked duck too.
Deletehi, just had a nice catch up of your blog, looks like you have loads going on! the garden looks great, good luck with the pink blueberries they sound intriguing! I love seeing all the pics of the animals and the preserving your doing - all looks amazing :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I am really enjoying this year so far.
DeleteI'm thinking of Chinese-style roasted duck with crispy skin, served with pancakes, Hoisin sauce, Spring Onions and Cucumber...
ReplyDeletepancakes? with duck? Hoisin sauce?
DeleteWe're not too keen on eating ducks, but, my dogs think drake treats are really good! My ducks have been laying up a storm this winter....I started to feed them my chicken laying pellets which supposedly has too much protein in it, but they seem to be thriving, and of 6 hens I'm getting 4-5 eggs a day!
ReplyDeleteI too dont care much for the taste of duck, but if you like it then a day of butchering may be what you need. or maybe sell some of the drakes and recoup some money that way.
ReplyDeleteYes smoked duck! Shredded, in a spring roll with scallions! The pancakes Mark refers to are very thin and sweetish (think crepe with about half the sugar) Hoisen sauce is a sauce, If you have an "asian" section at the grocery store I'm willing to bet they will carry it otherwise...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/420/Hoisin_Sauce12082.shtml
you could do mushu duck !
I have seen the Hoisen sauce somewhere, I just didn't know what it was used for. Will have to check it out maybe. Yes, I think we might have a few smoked ducks in our future. Maybe not this weekend though, we will be trying to get some smoked sausage going this weekend.
ReplyDelete