Well we have 8 less ducks roaming the farm after yesterdays processing. All the young Pekins have been processed leaving us with 4 adult Pekin, 4 adolescent Ancona and 2 adolescent Indian Runners. The processing itself went pretty well. A HUGE thanks to Sue and Crendell for coming to help again! We started the event with the plan of plucking half to leave the skins on for roasting and skinning half since we don't actually eat the skins anyway. In my freezer there is one bird with skin on and 7 without. The whole scalding in wax water all sounds great on the internet but we just can't get it to work well. Hopefully, they'll still be delicious cooked without the skin. I'll find out Thursday, since that's going to be one of my contributions to Thanksgiving at Mom's.
I actually took a more hands on role yesterday- instead of just being the bird catcher, hose holder and general gopher, I skinned some! It wasn't too bad- the snapping off the feet and cutting through the joint was the worst part. There's something about that sound. I'm still not ready to do the dispatching, but Chuck handles that very well.
No new plans for the fowl. We'll be in a holding pattern through winter. The only possible change is in chickens- somebody was hiding eggs in the goat pen again so I gave them to the broody Jersey to set. There's only five so we'll see what happens.
Pekin Adults
Our mascots had a birthday! Bo and Luke turned five last Thursday- It's hard to believe they're middle aged now. I still refer to them as "the puppies". They celebrated their day doing their favorite things- napping and eating. Happy Birthday, boys!
Luke
Bo
Also in dog news, I'm going to seek the help of a professional for Rupert. I currently have some calls out to a few trainers to see what they have to offer as far as behavioral modification and keeping him from chasing the livestock. Not sure if Chuck's going to be comfortable with him staying even after being trained but at least it would give him a better chance making it elsewhere. Fingers crossed for Rupert.
Petunia and Rosemary continue to do well. Petunia has started sticking her nose up at some of her bottles, so she's getting full elsewhere. Woo-hoo! Let the weaning begin!
Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving full of happy, healthy, local food!
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