Fighting, more ducks

This is Roy:


This is Roy a la Confit:


Any questions?


Roy and Hannibal, both Muscovy drakes (males), were fighting the other day. If you've been reading along, you'd know that I have way too many drakes. They fight quite visciously as they mature, especially when there's only one female around. Roy and Hannibal were jumping in the air and trying to gut the other with their sharp claws (Muscovies have claws for climbing in trees). Something had to give. Roy was the biggest, so he became food. His carcass and giblets weighed in at 5.5 lbs, post eviceration. How is he? Delicious! If you want more information (this is Alpine Learning Series Online, afterall), leave me a comment and I'll add some of the gory details (with pictures!)

On a lighter note, Kerrie and I "rescued" three Pekin ducks yesterday. I'm guessing these are were an Easter duckling gift (4 months old, so said the owner) which became too big for their Sunnyvale home. Kerrie and I knew right away that two were ducks, the third a drake. The girls make a distinctive, loud "quack" when being picked up; boys have a much quieter voice. Guess what Foie Gras comes from? The (liver of) Moulard, which is a hybrid between Muscovy drakes and Pekin ducks! We have a match made in heaven! Learn all about Foie Gras here.

The Runners had their first bath today:



Oh, and I forgot to mention... along with all the new Runner ducklings, there are also 6 Rouens (gender unknown) and two female Muscovies. The lesson here is don't drink and purchase ducks online at the same time. The thinking at the time (we were pretty soused, so I'm not sure if there really was any thinking) was that we needed more Muscovies for all the drakes we had; and the Rouens make better general-purpose ducks. (Why do I need general-purpose ducks?! Oh well.)