- Joined
- May 27, 2012
- Messages
- 5,192
- Location
- Bellmere, QLD
- Website
- www.selfsufficientme.com
- Climate
- Sub-Tropical
Here's my pekin duck roasted on a rotisserie gas BBQ literally from the duckling to the plate! I could not have been happier with the end result, which was a beautiful moist meat with a tasty crispy skin, and just as important the whole process to get to the eating part was simple and humane.
Roughly 3 months ago one of our pekin ducks naturally hatched out 7 ducklings. We facilitated this by noticing when mother duck became "clucky" and then ensuring she was left alone and protected to nest for the next 28 days.
After she had hatched out, the failed eggs were removed and mother duck with her ducklings were shifted to the safety of a holding pen so she could brood them for a few weeks. After brooding, mother duck was removed and the ducklings were kept in the holding pen for about 6 weeks and fed on a commercial growing feed (pellets).
Once big enough and almost fully feathered, the ducklings were moved into the main pen and given their own area sectioned off from the rest of the population. They were fed a finishing feed (pellets) specific to ducks and geese plus kitchen scraps.
Pekin ducks are apparently best eaten between 9 and 12 weeks of age but since we wanted to save our ducks for Christmas holidays it meant we ate ours at around 14 weeks. Honestly, I don't think they would be any better eaten earlier than when we did although my guess is the meat would probably get a little tougher and stronger after 20 weeks. Personally, I would eat (or process) homegrown Pekin ducks within a window of 9 - 20 weeks and I reckon they would be at their best between this period.
Two weeks before processing I wormed the ducks as a precautionary measure with a standard poultry wormer (Kilverm) added to water.
When it came time to process/slaughter I decided to select only two birds for Christmas (that's all we needed) so rather than run after the ducks with a net to catch them I created a small temporary pen with a low fence off their main pen and quietly corralled the ducks into the temp pen then closed off the exit. This made it really easy to grab/choose a duck when I was ready by simply reaching over the fence limiting stress for the birds and me.
I used two different slaughter methods the Morrigan neck breaker and the standard chop head clean off. Both methods worked well; however, I preferred the chop because at the end of the day the head has to be removed anyway and having the duck bleed out near the chopping block meant less mess at the processing table. Each to their own...
Plucking the ducks was murder! I now know it takes much longer to hand pluck a duck then a chicken and it took me about 30 minutes to remove all the feathers with only a further 5 minutes to fully gut the bird. Note to self: must get an automatic chicken/duck plucker
I refrigerated the ducks in an open container covered by a tea towel and this helped to dry the skin out for better roasting. The ducks rested for almost 3 days before cooking.
The ducks were skewered together on an electric rotisserie seated on a standard gas BBQ and they slowly cooked by medium indirect heat above a roasting tray with about an inch of water in it. The outside of the ducks were basted (basting) with an Asian inspired sauce consisting of fresh orange juice, a squeeze of lemon, dash of soy, few tablespoons of fish sauce, star anise, ginger, coriander, salt, and pepper. Any good basting sauce would work well.
The roasting took about 3 hours all up including the last 30 minutes when the water bath was removed and the ducks were left to crisp up a little more before removing and resting on a bench for about 10 minutes.
Served with cold salads (left over from Xmas day) our two pekin ducks fed 4 adults and 4 children easily! The skin was crispy and awesome tasting. The meat was very tender (almost like KFC or KFD) and it wasn't dry at all.
Overall, the process of growing Pekin ducks at home for eating from duckling to plate was a complete success and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in doing the same. We really enjoyed the feed and Pekin ducks done like this is sensational!
Feel free to ask any questions!
The hatching
Holding pen
Corralling pen
Plucking the duck by hand
BBQ ready to go
Two ducks on the rotisserie
Crispy skin ducks resting
Carving for serving the beautiful rich moist flesh
Roughly 3 months ago one of our pekin ducks naturally hatched out 7 ducklings. We facilitated this by noticing when mother duck became "clucky" and then ensuring she was left alone and protected to nest for the next 28 days.
After she had hatched out, the failed eggs were removed and mother duck with her ducklings were shifted to the safety of a holding pen so she could brood them for a few weeks. After brooding, mother duck was removed and the ducklings were kept in the holding pen for about 6 weeks and fed on a commercial growing feed (pellets).
Once big enough and almost fully feathered, the ducklings were moved into the main pen and given their own area sectioned off from the rest of the population. They were fed a finishing feed (pellets) specific to ducks and geese plus kitchen scraps.
Pekin ducks are apparently best eaten between 9 and 12 weeks of age but since we wanted to save our ducks for Christmas holidays it meant we ate ours at around 14 weeks. Honestly, I don't think they would be any better eaten earlier than when we did although my guess is the meat would probably get a little tougher and stronger after 20 weeks. Personally, I would eat (or process) homegrown Pekin ducks within a window of 9 - 20 weeks and I reckon they would be at their best between this period.
Two weeks before processing I wormed the ducks as a precautionary measure with a standard poultry wormer (Kilverm) added to water.
When it came time to process/slaughter I decided to select only two birds for Christmas (that's all we needed) so rather than run after the ducks with a net to catch them I created a small temporary pen with a low fence off their main pen and quietly corralled the ducks into the temp pen then closed off the exit. This made it really easy to grab/choose a duck when I was ready by simply reaching over the fence limiting stress for the birds and me.
I used two different slaughter methods the Morrigan neck breaker and the standard chop head clean off. Both methods worked well; however, I preferred the chop because at the end of the day the head has to be removed anyway and having the duck bleed out near the chopping block meant less mess at the processing table. Each to their own...
Plucking the ducks was murder! I now know it takes much longer to hand pluck a duck then a chicken and it took me about 30 minutes to remove all the feathers with only a further 5 minutes to fully gut the bird. Note to self: must get an automatic chicken/duck plucker
I refrigerated the ducks in an open container covered by a tea towel and this helped to dry the skin out for better roasting. The ducks rested for almost 3 days before cooking.
The ducks were skewered together on an electric rotisserie seated on a standard gas BBQ and they slowly cooked by medium indirect heat above a roasting tray with about an inch of water in it. The outside of the ducks were basted (basting) with an Asian inspired sauce consisting of fresh orange juice, a squeeze of lemon, dash of soy, few tablespoons of fish sauce, star anise, ginger, coriander, salt, and pepper. Any good basting sauce would work well.
The roasting took about 3 hours all up including the last 30 minutes when the water bath was removed and the ducks were left to crisp up a little more before removing and resting on a bench for about 10 minutes.
Served with cold salads (left over from Xmas day) our two pekin ducks fed 4 adults and 4 children easily! The skin was crispy and awesome tasting. The meat was very tender (almost like KFC or KFD) and it wasn't dry at all.
Overall, the process of growing Pekin ducks at home for eating from duckling to plate was a complete success and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in doing the same. We really enjoyed the feed and Pekin ducks done like this is sensational!
Feel free to ask any questions!
The hatching
Holding pen
Corralling pen
Plucking the duck by hand
BBQ ready to go
Two ducks on the rotisserie
Crispy skin ducks resting
Carving for serving the beautiful rich moist flesh
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