How many mulards grow at home, at what age and weight to score

Experienced and novice poultry breeders agree that mulard are the calmest representatives of the duck family. The interspecific hybrid grows quickly, it has lean, nutritious meat, and a large liver that can be used to make a delicacy. Since this variety of waterfowl was bred relatively recently, many owners are interested in the question: how many mulards grow before slaughter?

How many mulards grow?

Poultry cross - mulard - the result of selection of French specialists. It is distinguished from the rest of the ducks by a black speck on the head, an elongated neck, and a dense body build. The plumage color is different - white, artsy or dark.

It is impossible to get offspring from them - females are sterile. The main purpose of growing hybrids is lean, soft meat. With proper care and a well-formulated diet, chicks gain weight quickly. The first molt in mulard begins at the age of 65-70 days. If by this time the bird is ready for slaughter, and the breeder is not going to keep it longer (to get a liver for foie gras cross, ducks need to be raised up to 4 months), the owner proceeds to slaughter the flock.

What can affect the timing?

Factors affecting the slow growth of ducks:

1. Keeping different types of waterfowl in one pen. Geese are slightly larger than ducks and may keep them out of the trough. When malnourished, mulard grows slowly.
2. Unbalanced diet. Most often, the breeder feeds the bird for his own consumption with grain mixtures, adding boiled vegetables, juicy feed, sand to them. Mulards gain weight more slowly, but meat tastes much more natural.

In order for a duck to grow quickly, it must receive vitamins and calcium from food. All the necessary trace elements are present in compound feed.

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At what age to prick ducks?

The most error-free method for determining whether a duck is ready for slaughter is to navigate by the state of plumage. Mulard begins to chop as early as 2 months of age. It is in the time period of 60-65 days that they are completely covered with feathers, and the weight is selected to 3.8-4 kg. These are the optimal parameters for knocking out the flock.

How to score a mulard?

Before cutting the mulard, you need to inspect the plumage of the bird. An important condition is that there are no stumps on it. Otherwise, the carcass will be "prickly", unattractive, and plucking will take a lot of time.

Before slaughter, ducks are prepared: 12-16 hours in advance, so that food debris disappears from the stomach and goiter, they stop feeding. At first, the bird is not limited in water, but the drinkers are removed 6-7 hours before slaughter. In the barn, where the mulard are kept at night, the lighting is left on.

At home, beginners are better off using proven methods:

1. Decapitate the carcass. Take the bird by the head, stretch its neck, cut the carotid artery with a knife. In this case, the knife blade should be tilted slightly downward. Another way is to take the duck by the wings, put its head on the deck, chop it off with an ax.
2. Hang the duck by the legs, placing the wings behind your back. Leave in this state for 5-10 minutes to completely drain the blood.

The next step is to pluck the carcass. There are 2 ways:

• dry processing. In order not to damage the carcass, the feathers are plucked out carefully, conveniently laying the bird on a flat surface or hanging it upside down. Start from the sternum, turn over onto the back. The final phase is the plucking of the wings and tail;
• scalding. The water is heated to 80 ˚С (it is wrong to dip a hammered duck in boiling water - the skin will burst, it will not be easy to pluck the carcass). After dipping the carcass for a few minutes in a container of hot water, it is given some time to cool down. Otherwise, not only the skin of the bird, but also the hands of the breeder will suffer from the high temperature. Then they begin to remove feathers - first of all, they pluck the cover from the wings and tail. After that, they move on to the neck and chest, removing the plumage from the back and legs is the last stage.

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After plucking the feathers, the duck down is seared with a gas burner. The manipulations are carried out carefully, making sure that the fat under the skin does not begin to melt. Otherwise, the skin will burst, the carcass will lose its presentation. They start cutting the poultry, removing the goiter, esophagus and offal.

If there is abdominal fat, it is also removed. Be sure to cut out the sebaceous gland on the tail (if it is not removed, it will significantly spoil the taste of the cooked meat).

Then the mularda is washed under running water. You do not need to keep the bird under the stream for a long time so as not to wash out the nutrients. If the carcass will freeze, it must be allowed to dry.

Having disassembled the bird into its components, the meat parts are allowed to stew, the bones are used to make broths. Abdominal fat and skin are reheated, fat can be closed in jars.