Hey interwebs! Sorry it's been so long since we last chatted... I was super busy planning a huge event at work + Emma was recovering from her surgery.
Unfortunately, Winter will be here in a blink of an eye. Osh and I have been taking the dogs for walks as much as possible, while the weather holds out. I actually bought us some toasty workout pants so that we can walk the dogs well in to November. (hopefully!) Emma and Otis love adventures!
Speaking of Winter, it's almost time to start preparing the barn for the cooler temperatures.
Typically, we house all of the birds together over the winter, so that they can keep each other warm. This year will be no different, except with the addition of Narragansett Turkeys. The idea of having a heat light in the barn has been tossed around but I'm still unsure about that. There's so much that can go wrong with a heat lamp -- such as a fire which would ruin the barn and probably kill our entire flock. Still weighing out the benefits/downsides... Check back in a few weeks to see what we decide to do!!
This year, we decided to keep about 20 drakes to raise for meat. I have done a lot of reading regarding muscovy duck meat, and it apparently was supposed to taste like beef.... And beef it tasted like. There's not a whole lot of fat, so cooking it perfectly is key. If you ate this piece of meat, blindfolded, you would probably think it was a really nice cut of beef. We've had muscovy ducks for over 2 years now, I'm not sure why we haven't tried it before. Next year, we will probably raise more drakes for meat, especially, considering how delicious it is!
PS -- If anyone wants to get on the list forr barred rock chicks in the Spring, please let me know around January. Heritage barred rock chicks are $7 each, unsexed. The lines that we have are Woeppel, Guy Roy, & Good Shepherd.
That looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteCurious to see about the heat lamp. Hopefully this winter won't be as cold as last winter!