Sorry Ducks

Summer time is filled with lots of activity and work, that is for sure.  I think the busyness of all the to-dos help me cope with the coming of fall (less gardening, food preserving, yard work, etc).  Though apple butter season will be approaching soon, Eek!!

We recently put another homesteading tool in our belt; that tool being the experience of killing and cleaning our own ducks.  In poor meat fowl raising fashion, I lost track of how old the ducks were and we didn't know their live weight.  I suppose if the ducks were self consciousness about their weight and age like us silly humans at least they 'went out' with no complexes.

https://www.threadless.com/designs/duck-face-4

Any who, we heard from different people that cleaning ducks was a tedious task with the amount and type of feathers.  This we now understand.  From our homesteading books we read that you attempt to kill them during their second molt, which reduces some of the plucking.  We think we got them before their full second molt but had to schedule the killing instead to coordinate with summer travel plans.  After killing them we realized based on their dressed weight they should have been larger.  But I digress.
(Dressed weight typically means the weight after the animal is killed and internal organs and less desirable portions of the animal removed.  Not this-)

Moving on....

PLEASE NOTE: I refrained from showing graphic pictures for those that are sensitive to such.  The most graphic picture is Jonathan holding a headless duck, no blood is visible.  Just want to point that out but I encourage everyone to look at the process.

(Up until kill day, kid stalking was probably the most stressful thing our ducks encountered)-

Fact: If you eat animals death is involved.  I think that is important to embrace for the sake of perspective and respect.  I personally feel as a Christian that we are to be good care takers of God's creation and not just say 'ignorance is bliss' in regards to animal processing.  I don't think animals are here for our careless expenditure (careless being key word).  I know I am opening up a can of worms here, maybe more on this another time.  The fact is lots of animals die daily to keep up with our country's food demands.  Just a quick Google search told me that roughly 21 million chickens are EATEN DAILY in the US alone.  Whoa nelly!  A lot of deaths.

I like knowing that our animals have one bad day in their lives; kill day.  The same can be true for large livestock operations as well, but I believe it is not always the case.  I also like that our killing is instant.  We chop the head off in one quick blow with an axe.  In large poultry operations birds are hung upside down, stunned (I think usually electrically) to remove feeling, then their throats are cut to bleed out.  This process has a reason to it and I understand that.  There are also laws (or guidelines, not clear on this yet) to ensure the process is quick and not drawn out to make it as humane as possible.  I am sharing this information for comparison and again for perspective sake.

Here is a link that I found helpful if you want to know more about poultry processing.

Onto our duck processing.

Step 1 Killing the animal.  We did this by me holding the duck in my hands (and I actually got sad and considered not killing it at this point), Jonathan laying its head on a tree stump with one hand and cutting the head off with ONE swift blow with his axe.  There was little to no struggle.  At this point the animal bleeds out.

Step 2 We dipped the duck in boiling water to help with the plucking process.  For the most part feathers came out easily and quickly (we followed water temperature and scalding time recommendations) but the pin feathers were a beast to remove.

-Plucked and wing ends removed.

Step 3  Next you need to remove all the innards.  You do this by cutting around the duck's anus using great care to not nick the digestive tract (which could release feces and get on the meat which is not ideal).  Once you cut that part free from the body then the innards can start being pulled out.  Once the duck is completely cleaned out we did another rinse inside and outside for good cleanliness practice.
No picture for this step, our hands were really dirty and we wanted to move them as quickly as possible to be chilled.

Step 4 Now the carcasses have to chill to an internal temperature of 40F.  Chillin'-

Step 5  Once chilled we vacuum sealed them and put them in the freezer.  Done.

Step 6 Cook and eat them, which is going to happen tonight.

Duck fat is a healthy fat (in my pro fat opinion) and duck meat is rich in flavor.  Some people describe it as tasting like all dark and very juicy meat.

That is all I can write for now; sorry to end so abruptly, motherhood is calling. :)

Big News In The Hen House

We had our first babies born on our farm this past weekend!  3 little chickies.

Since we do NOT have a rooster (therefore our hens' eggs do not get fertilized) we had to get eggs from someone else that did have a rooster.  Thankfully my friend Tammi was willing to part with some of her viable eggs from her flock.

One of our Barred Rock Hens has been broody (meaning she wants to hatch and raise chicks) for awhile, so all I did was place 6 of Tammi's eggs in a nest in the coop.  Momma Rock immediately took on the job.

She sat and sat and sat, for about 20 days.  Even through a few weeks of a heat spell, she did not leave her nest for a break.

Her hard work paid off, though we can see the toll it took on her appearance.  She plucked out some of her breast feathers to keep the eggs closer to her skin and warm.  Her comb (the fleshy red piece on her head) is shriveled and has lost some color.  I am assuming this has to do with hormones and that she didn't eat and drink.

The sacrifice of a Mom.

Today they left the nest and coop for the first time, and it makes me nervous.  We have cats roaming around and so many other potential chick hazards.  So far they are peaceful.

And the kids cannot get enough of them, little man especially.

Baby girl demands to dress herself in big sister's dresses EVERY.DAY.

Lastly, if interested in a recommendation for a children's hen and egg story, we vote this one as our favorite.  (And we have read a lot).

Egg Story by Anca Hariton

It has beautiful illustrations and does an excellent job teaching about what goes on inside the egg.

For now enjoying these warm August days, a full vegetable garden and more sweet little details. :)