Muscovy Ducks tastes like Roast Beef

[jwnova99]

Believe it or not, Muscovy Duck meat tastes more like grass feed roast then it does chicken. They are very lean and need to be slow cooked and made into many different dishes. Not only that, they breed like rabbits, eat bugs, and aerate your yard in search of worms.

Three of my mothers have produced 42 babies so far this year and its only May. Each mother can have up to 20 babies twice a year. My largest brood was 18 born out of a clutch of 21. These were all hatched naturally by the moms in WV where we had many nights in the 30s and 40s during the brood. I do not heat my coop. Just shelter, cracked corn, water, and free range during the day.




We skin them like Rabbits. I still have a dozen left from left last year......

 

[sourland]

The best eating duck there is - just my opinion.

 

[OHSpartan]

A friend of mine raised Muscovy for all the reasons above. He said Muscovy are the most efficient output to input ration of any BYlivestock.

I tried one and grossly over cooked it. It was tough and dry, and, per his warnings to the effect, I specifically tried not to overcook it. I think it would be good, but I found it difficult to cook. He said he preferred their eggs to chicken eggs anyday, but I haven't tried any of them.

 

[jwnova99]

Yes, We have roasted them and some are just right while others are just as you said. We found by using a roaster and cooking it till it falls apart we can use it just like beef in BBQ sandwiches, Beef Burritos, casseroles, stews, etc. I eggs are also amazing, just really large yokes so I throw 1 of every 2 yokes away when making them.

 

[HEChicken]

I'm very glad to hear all of this, and I read your other thread too. A week ago I got 6 Muscovy ducklings. The lady I got them from has "hundreds" of them and claimed to be able to vent sex them within 80% accuracy, and gave me 2 male, 4 female. We'll see how well that turns out - they are only 2 weeks old now - but as long as I have one of each I'll be happy.

So are you saying that they only lay in order to procreate? Therefore, do the ducks go broody as soon as they start laying? If I want them to hatch some out, do I just not collect the eggs and once they've gathered a clutch they'll start to sit on them? Or does it work like a chicken, where they start sitting and then you can put eggs under them?

 

[jwnova99]

Hi HEChicken,

When spring time comes next year you should see them breeding and start laying eggs. I would take the eggs until May (so its warm). Then let them just lay their eggs. The eggs will last until they sit. They lay one egg a day until they have a clutch of 10 to 20, then they start to sit. All the eggs are in a suspense until they get warmed by the mom. Then it's 35 to 40 days till you start to see the little ones. Even though the eggs are laid 20 days apart, they start to develop when their mother starts to sit. They should all hatch within 2 days. The mom will take them from the nest, and then I usually wait 2 days before removing the unhatched eggs just in case. I tried to put eggs from one mom under another and the mom abandoned the whole nest, so don't do that.

I find when I take the eggs, they will stop laying in that spot, wait a couple days, and try another spot, after they have a brood, they don't lay for another 1 to 2 months.

good luck with these, they are a lot of fun.

 

[jackie0380]

Thanks for this post! we just processed our first ever Muscovyy this weekend. I have the breast and leg quarters in the fridge and am going to slow cook it today. My husband wants to skin them rather than pluck and I agree after trying to pluck the first one. I am hoping that my girls will each hatch a clutch next spring, we've not had babies yet. I love Muscovys.

 

[sandspoultry]

We take the leg quarters, giblets and any fat in the body cavity and make duck sausage. I agree 100% on skinning them, plucking them is a major pain.

 

[Czech's_chicks]

They are the only water fowl we raise for meat. Cannot find another great tasting duck.