ducks for the table

[Anonymous]

Our Runners are for the fun of having ducks & also for eggs[can't wait], so what would be a good table bird :?:, not too large though [would runners have enough meat on them :?: ]. At what age would they be ready :?:

 

[Davidd]

Hi, there is not much meat on runners- you are better with either a heavy traditional breed- i.e. Pure aylesbury, pekin, rouen, saxony, appleyard, cayuga or you can get "hybrids" i.e. Cherry valley etc -which mature quicker- you should eat them at around the 12-16 week mark depending on breed- ducks don't tend to have a lot of meat on them anyway. Hope this helps,
regards, David

 

[snifter]

We kept Aylesbury's. Great table birds.

IIRC you need to dispatch and prepare them before they moult. After this its a lot harder to remove some of the feathering. Its not an easy task and as we usually had 20 plus we would send them to be finished professionally.