drakes' beak color, butcher age

[mtsadie]

Some of my khaki campbell drakes have a greenish/yellow beak color, as opposed to a more beige color. It is their entire beaks, so I've ruled out grazing stains. Their current feed: free range during the day, with fresh zucchini/lettuce in their water, as well as wheat. At night, there's laying feed (as well as vegetables and wheat in their water) as I do have some girls. Thoughts?

Also, I know most people on here keep their ducks as pets, but we're going to have to butcher some of our drakes. (I can't find homes for them, and since I convinced my husband to be a duckowner with the proposition of eggs, I actually only ended up with 1 duck, and 5 drakes. But I did get a 2:1 ratio on my Cayugas, at least.) Does anyone know the ideal age to butcher domestic ducks? They're 4months.

 

[AlexArt]

I normally do ours at about 5 or 6 months old - but anytime they are not moulting is fine - the little stubby pin feathers are a pain to pull out! To fatten mine the last month I pen them up in a much smaller pen rather than free range on our orchard so they aren't burning so many calories running about!, and feed them a finnisher ration with some wheat added in just to get them that bit plumper, adding some fruit and veg is great as a treat but I don't have it as a main part of their diet at this point.

 

[mtsadie]

Thanks! The only ages I could find were for pekins, so this is a huge help. Although mine are technically free range, they don't really range far. I will probably wait a bit to move them into a finishing ration because it's still getting into the mid 90's to 100's, and I don't want them to kill over on me.

 

[dorsetduckowner]

KC's can have varying bill colours as can most breeds.