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Author Topic: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older  (Read 5820 times)

Offline Cindi

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The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« on: July 20, 2008, 09:59:59 am »
We had a clutch of Muscovy babies hatch out last weekend, they are about a week old now and cute as the days are now long.  This is Cookie, one of the younger Muscovy hens, her first brood and she is doing well as a mother.  We gave her 20 eggs to hatch, as advised by someone, this was obviously too many for her to cover and only 5 hatched.  When the hens sit on 12-13, they all hatch, lessons learned.  Enjoy these pictures and have a wonderfully wonderful day, Cindi

Cookie and her new 5 babies



Faya and her babies, looking so much more grown up



Just another pretty picture of the new feathers on the Muscovy baby

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline JP

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2008, 12:15:12 pm »
Oh Cindi, thanks so much for posting those pics!!! They look so wonderfully...



































































DELICIOUS!!!!!!!  :-D :-D :-D


...JP
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Offline Cindi

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2008, 09:14:35 am »
JP, what the dickens was all that blank window screen before I saw the word "delicious", I had to scroll down half the page.  I think that you were trying to tease me, wondering what was coming in the window below, just try and sneak in and get one of these ducks, they are prepared......hee, hee.  Tonight we are having three ducks that have been in the freezer for dinner, done in that oven bag with all the trimmings, eat your heart out!!!  Beautiful day, we've got a great life to live.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline JP

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2008, 11:08:23 am »
JP, what the dickens was all that blank window screen before I saw the word "delicious", I had to scroll down half the page.  I think that you were trying to tease me, wondering what was coming in the window below, just try and sneak in and get one of these ducks, they are prepared......hee, hee.  Tonight we are having three ducks that have been in the freezer for dinner, done in that oven bag with all the trimmings, eat your heart out!!!  Beautiful day, we've got a great life to live.  Cindi

I am not the teasing type!!! :-D :-* :-D ;)


...JP
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Offline poka-bee

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2008, 12:09:53 pm »
Cindi, they are beautiful.  Are the newest ones from the new drake??  I like the brown hen, do her feathers change colors in the sun? I can imagine the little noises they make foraging around outside, a joy to listen to & watch! My hen once hatched out 22 in the middle of the winter!! A good many drowned in the water trough though, went in & got stuck under the ice..eewww!
 JP, you are a naughty boy, yes you are!  Around suppertime you will be able to savor the delicious aroma wafting down & across the land from BC!! Abigail has another ninja class coming up for the new hatchees so better watch out! 8-) Jody
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Offline annette

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #5 on: July 21, 2008, 02:26:03 pm »
Once again, I just adore these photos. They are so happy

Annette

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #6 on: July 21, 2008, 06:35:33 pm »
JP, what the dickens was all that blank window screen before I saw the word "delicious", I had to scroll down half the page.  I think that you were trying to tease me, wondering what was coming in the window below, just try and sneak in and get one of these ducks, they are prepared......hee, hee.  Tonight we are having three ducks that have been in the freezer for dinner, done in that oven bag with all the trimmings, eat your heart out!!!  Beautiful day, we've got a great life to live.  Cindi

I am not the teasing type!!! :-D :-* :-D ;)


...JP


JP, I know what you mean, I'm the only serious one at my house too.  :-D  :-D
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Offline Cindi

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2008, 09:14:29 pm »
Men, huh!!!!  I think all guys love to tease girls, brats you all!!!  (but don't we just love it, hee, hee).  There is nothing more fun than being teased by men.....I mean that, it is good ol' plain fun, dee, dun, dun, dun.

Jody, that must have bummed you out all those drowned little duckies, oh dear, that would sadden the best of us.  These babies are still the progeny of good ol' Whoppo....he was a fine dude.  I have about 36 in the incubator now (and about 98 chicken eggs).  All these will be the progeny of Sir Drake, I wonder if the colours that he will throw will be as pretty and so different, just like Whoppo's.  I would imagine so.  We have a market for the ducks and have been selling some of the younger ones.  We are heading off on Tuesday to the slaughter house with the 9 old ones.  They will be in the freezer to bring some down to Brian's barbeque (yeah!!  can't wait!!!).

I am right now cooking two great big ducks.  I have not yet weighed any ducks yet that we have raised, just because I am too lazy.  But I weighed these two today on my commercial size scale.  It is one like in the grocery stores.  It hangs on my porch and I place the stuff requiring weighing into the basket aparatus.  It is wonderfully accurate and I used to use it to weigh my raspberries when I would sell them.

These ducks each weighed 2,500 grams (that be 5.5 pounds), gonna be a yummy supper.

This is what is on the table tonight (this is to make you drool JP, you bratty, brat, brat)  We are having my Sister and her clan up for dinner, and of course my Daughter and her clan.  That makes 18 for the dinner table, so I now had best run off and get the rest of the stuff cooked. 

Mashed potatoes
Duck gravy
Cauliflower with cheese sauce
Steamed cabbage with white sauce (easy because I just add cheese to the cauliflower's sauce)
Beans, Frenched
That yummy corn that I froze from last year, oh yes, still just as the day it was picked and frozen
Cranberry sauce from the berries that I bought last year
And....what dinner would not be a dinner without, fresh picked from the garden:

Caesar salad

Then.....from the bones, a duck soup will be forthcoming, yeah!!!  Beautiful day, wonderful day, love it and live it like there narry would be a tomorrow.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline JP

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2008, 11:19:15 pm »
Yes, I am drooling, yes I am drooling, yes I am DROOLING!!!  I went by my favorite chinese joint in Chalmette, Louisiana last week as I was in the area working late, and was gonna have my favorite dish of mandarin duck. It was 9pm and I was hoping they were open til 10pm but no such luck!!!

So, you are torturing me with that fine duck meal!!! I know this makes you very happy (torturing me) so enjoy those mashed potatos with duck gravy and that finger lickin' good duck!!

But remember, revenge is a dish best served cold!!! :-D :-* :-* :-*


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Offline Cindi

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #9 on: July 23, 2008, 09:05:59 am »
JP, oh dear, too bad about the restaurant, seriously,  :lol:  Didn't you get the dinner I sent through cyberspace, rats!!!  Oh well too bad, suck it up!!!  Oh we are nasty, aren't we.

The duck dinner was really wonderful, and what made it even better was my other Sister stopped in with her new boyfriend and they joined us for dinner.  Neither of them have ever had Muscovy duck and they were flabergasted by the tenderness and taste of the duck and the non-fat gravy that these birds make.  She didn't like the taste of my cranberries because they were too sour, so before dinner she re-prepared the cranberry sauce and added a whole whack more of sugar, I must say that it tasted much nicer after she was done.  I didn't realize that it required so much sugar, we had always eaten it on the sour side, what a bad girl, using that much sugar, hee, hee.  Beautiful day, love our life, live our lives with the most gusto that we can muster.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline JP

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #10 on: July 23, 2008, 10:25:02 am »
Cindi, next time I hope you have some honey to add to the cranberries, better for you than white sugar.

No, I didn't get the dinner you sent me! :-D


...JP
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Offline poka-bee

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #11 on: July 23, 2008, 01:31:22 pm »
Cranberry sauce is fun to make, love popping of the berries.  If you feel really adventurous, try using orange juice instead of water.  Adding cinnamon or spiced rum makes it good too.  I would use 1/2 the sugar for cooking, then add the honey to taste after the boiling it down a bit.  I might just taste some of the muscovy @ the picnik..The reason I don't like wild duck is the grease & fat.eewww!  Also it's very very strong tasting, well at least the ones Dad brought home were..ick :-P   Jody
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Offline Cindi

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #12 on: July 24, 2008, 02:19:02 pm »
Jody, you gotta try some of the duck I bring down, I kid you not, it is better than chicken or turkey even.  The Muscovy does not have a high fat or grease content at all, seriously.  When I make gravy from the beasts, there is barely any grease at all, period.  The meat is dark and is not strong tasting either, it is wonderful, and I just can't say enough about how good it really is.  It is a total pain the butt to carve up, it takes a very long time.  My Husband was about an hour carving up the two the other night, really wish that there was a more simple way.  We have a whole whack of them heading off to the slaughterhouse on Tuesday, then off into the freezer in a good freezer wrap.  I was very choked actually the other day, I was going to cook an extra duck and it had been in my freezer for a few months.  I was in a Glad freezer bag and it was totally freezer burned.  Not too sure what to do with it now.  I put it back in the freezer.  I am actually going to contact Glad because I paid good money for this freezer bag, never had a clue that it would not be sufficient to prevent freezer burn.  So, I will always freeze any kind of meat now with the freezer wrap that I do have.  I always do, but I was in a hurry to put this duck in the freezer and used Glad bags.  The other ducks we had eaten up long ago, so they didn't have any burn.  I am choked and annoyed about this.  Oh well, I am always going to that school of hard knocks and lessons, wish I could get graduated from that, hee, hee  :evil: ;) :) :) :)  Have a most wonderful, beautiful day on our great earth.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline poka-bee

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #13 on: July 25, 2008, 01:50:09 am »
Ok Cindi, I'll try some but don't be offended if it's not my thing!  I am sooo picky about meats, its awful really.  Dad used to get goose too..ugh :-P was almost more greasy than the duck..the shot in the meat was sorta gross too! :shock: prpbly got lead poisoning..did like dove & pheasant though.  That sucks about the freezer burn.  I've had that happen also w/the bags.  Now I 2x wrap, freeze hard & vacusuck it.  How does it come from the slaughter house??  Do they put em in paper?  Falling asleep so off I toddle, have a great night!  Jody
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Offline Cindi

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Re: The new Muscovy babies and the ones a little older
« Reply #14 on: July 25, 2008, 10:35:45 am »
Jody, when the ducks are done they are given back warm.  The procedure only takes a very few minutes.  I have never gone with my Sister, but we have Tuesday slated in, I am going with her.  I am too curious to stay home this time.  Eeew, that may gross me out, hope it doesn't turn me off home grown meat, hee, hee.  We bring a cooler full of ice in bags, when all is said and done the ice is removed, taken out of the bags, some put on the bottom of the cooler, the ducks (and some older chickens too) are placed in and the rest of the ice is scattered over them.  This cools them quickly, the faster the better then when we get home we will freezer wrap them.  Fresh as fresh can be, yum, yum.  Beautiful, most wonderful day, Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service