Duck!

Now am I mad, or what?

Someone on the local Freecycle posted that he bought a new bath for his Khaki Campbell ducks, and sadly two ducks and the drake all drowned in it yesterday. He was offering them to anyone willing to butcher them, as they were all healthy and only a year old.

I'm collecting them tomorrow - it's a long time since I dressed a bird, but even if I don't fancy taking off the legs & breasts for myself, nothing will get wasted as I have two large raw-fed dogs who will adore the rest!

Not sure about plucking though - I may go for the softer option and skin them instead.

wow good one poor ducks but nowts gone to waste

He seemed quite upset as they are kept for eggs and were his best layers. But good on him for offering them on freecycle. I guess the alternative was to bury them, but even though he couldn't bear to prepare them for his own use he thought someone might make use of them.

They're in his garage fridge and I'll collect tomorrow morning. My sister's been at work and doesn't yet know that I will be sitting in her back porch tomorrow dressing three ducks...lolol... but if I promise her a wing or tail for the ferrets to play with I'm sure she won't mind....

aww nice fella..u gotta feel sorry for him

you will make the ferrets day too

Aw, poor ducks this might sound stupid but... How did they drown?

I think it is good they wont be going to waste.

One of my girls has one raw duck meal a day to help her gain weight, she's 17 months old and only ever got to 8kgs (which is tiny for a cocker) since being on the duck diet she's now 10.2kgs....which is fab news, but we are slowing down now as I don't want her getting too fat!...lol.

I felt very sorry for the guy whose ducks they were. He loves his birds to bits and they all have names, and his chickens were so friendly and happy to be stroked, pecking gently at my fingers and shoes, they were lovely.

He bought a new bath (yes, a real bath) and set it up for them 2 days ago, which the ducks were loving until he found the three drowned that evening. I have to say the dead birds were totally waterlogged so it's possible these didn't have enough waterproofing on their feathers, as all his others are ok. He's removed the bath now and they're back with a shallow child's sandpit.

Dressing them was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. I could have plucked them but that would have taken ages so I just peeled them in the end. It was only minimally messy thanks to a large black bin bag which kept feathers etc from going everywhere and even though my sister's kitchen did look like something from CSI for a while, all are now sorted and bagged in doggy dinner portions. The only thing we've thrown away is the skin with feathers.

Sad for the ducks but great for the dogs, and I'd happily do the same again if I got anything fresh enough.

Just introduce it slowly if they haven't had it before, I bought mine duck as a treat one Christmas and Kiki refused hers so Casper snaffled it as well as his portion and promptly brought it all back up again 10 minutes later!