Because they grew up. And they turned out to be mostly boys.
Now, if you troll Craigslist you're gonna see a lot of ads for free roosters. You could seriously stock your freezer with free roosters. You could do the same with drakes if people kept more ducks. As it is, those of us who do keep ducks want only one drake. Or none.
So what to do with Blackie and the three spotted ducks, the boys? I made some calls, sent some emails, and got in touch with a guy who said he'd help us slaughter them. Only, with my schedule, we could never get together, so Greg ended up helping the guy, Luke. Yes, the same Greg who said "I don't want to be a farmer, leave me out of that!"
The first day they only had time to do one duck, and it ended up being one of the spotted ones, back in the garden and out of sight of the other ducks, who Greg left in their coop. Well, they didn't like being cooped up and made quite a stink...until the hatchet came down on their brother's neck and, even though they couldn't see, they all fell silent.
When I got home the rest of the ducks were out in the yard and the house smelled like...wow. I got whisked to the table and sat down to a feast of duck a l'orange! Seems that Greg kept looking at that duck carcass in the fridge all morning and thought, What the hell...
It was awfully good.
We have since slaughtered (and eaten) the other three drakes, but since that first day, the duck's attitude toward us completely changed, and they are most unfriendly and distrustful! Imagine that. So I think we're hanging up our duck-keepers hat, and are working on giving the remaining girls to a good home. We'll just concentrate on chickens for now.
So who's that colorful fellow in the pond? In the convoluted course of our introduction to duck processing, we ended up with Carlene, a friend's drake that almost got offed but escaped and got back home...where he still wasn't wanted, so we took him in. And the girls, Flip and (in the middle) Gracie really like him, so when they go they'll go as a trio. Gracie and Flip haven't yet started to lay eggs, but should any day now. Stay tuned.
2 comments:
Birds have very long memories, I think. My wee lovebird, Trill, almost got eaten by the dog a few months ago. It wasn't really Zelda's fault--Trill basically landed on Zelda's nose when Z was asleep and Z just sort of instinctively snapped at her as she was waking up. But since that day the bird has not willingly touched either of us. She used to snuggle, and now she snaps. It's sad. Especially because I won't be eating her, so I expect another dozen or so years of owning a pet who believes I'm dangerous to her. Glad the duck was tasty!
Unmentioned here is the FACT that ducks stink, or rather, they are high-volume food processors and their by products really, really stink.
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