How long do moulards grow before slaughter: weight and at what age to cut at home

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

How long do mulards grow?

Cross poultry - mulard - the result of selection by French specialists. It is distinguished from other ducks by a black spot on the head, an elongated neck, and a dense build of the body. The color of the plumage is different - white, frilly 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, a properly composed diet, chicks quickly gain weight. The first molt in mulards 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 (ducks need to be raised up to 4 months to get a liver for foie gras cross), the owner starts slaughtering the herd.

What could affect timing?

Factors affecting the slow growth of ducks:

1. Keeping different types of waterfowl in one pen. Geese are slightly larger than ducks, they may not let them near the feeder. When malnourished, mulards grow slowly.
2. Unbalanced diet. Most often, the breeder feeds the bird for his own consumption with grain mixtures, adding boiled vegetables, succulent feed, and sand to them. Moulards gain mass more slowly, but the taste of meat is 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 feeds.

At what age should ducks be pricked?

The most error-free method to determine whether a duck is ready for slaughter is to navigate by the state of plumage. Mulardov begin to chop already at 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 approaching 3.8-4 kg. These are the optimal parameters to beat the herd.

At the age of 75 days, mulards begin to change plumage. A lot of vitamins and protein are consumed to update the coating - ducks lose weight. If a breeder keeps a bird for liver, it will have to be fed for another month.

How to score a moulard?

Before you cut the mulards, you need to examine 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 the remnants of food leave the stomach and goiter, they stop being fed. At first, the bird is not limited in the water, but the drinkers are removed 6-7 hours before slaughter. In the shed where the mulards are kept at night, the lights are left on.

At home, it is better for beginners to use 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 down. 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, winding the wings behind the back. Leave in this state for 5-10 minutes to completely glass 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 carefully plucked, conveniently laying the bird on a flat surface or hanging it upside down. Start with the sternum, turn over on the back. Final phase - plucking wings and tail;
• scalding. The water is heated to 80 ° C (dipping a slaughtered duck in boiling water is wrong - 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. Otherwise, not only the skin of the bird, but also the hands of the breeder will suffer from high temperature. Then they begin to remove feathers - the first thing they do is pluck the cover from the wings and tail. After that, they move on to the neck and chest, removing plumage from the back and legs is the last stage.

After plucking the feathers, the duck down is singeed with a gas burner. 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 butchering the bird, removing the crop, 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 cooked meat).

Then wash the moulard under running water. It is not necessary to keep the bird under the stream for a long time so as not to wash out the nutrients. If the carcass is frozen, it must be allowed to dry.

After disassembling the bird into its components, the meat parts are put into stew, the bones are used to make broths. Abdominal fat and skin are melted, fat can be closed in jars.

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