The saga of the white ducks in our compound is over.  The ducks have all been eaten.  They were the best tasting roast ducks we ever had.  Also the best tasting raw duck I’ve had.  It goes to show that we can raise these ducks on our food scraps and fruit peelings.  Imagine all the watermelon and papaya peelings they ate, all those bugs and green grass and papaya leaves and garden herbs.  Not once did we ever buy duck feed.  The only grain these ducks ever ate was left over organic rice.

The kids enjoyed this education.  We had those ducks for some 8 months.  At first I bought 4 ducks, 1 male and 3 female for slaughter.  The kids found out the females were laying eggs.  They thought that was cute so they wanted them to lay more.  We ate most of the eggs, best tasting eggs ever!  But the kids wanted to see them hatch, so we let some of them hatch.  3 ducklings survived to adulthood.

It was these 3 ducklings who we raised for 6 months in the garden were the best tasting ducks of all.  They are not commercial animals, it took them 6 months to slaughter.

Pet attachment?  I’ll have none of that.  From the start I taught my kids these ducks are food.  I compared these ducks to the sheep that all those biblical shepherds tended to… that those shepherds made sure no sheep was lost… because losing sheep was losing FOOD you needed to live on!  So the ducks are food.

This afternoon all 3 kids were sitting, watching every bit of the action of slaughtering the last 2 ducks which we ate for dinner.  Grandpa said these ducks were so good, we should raise more!

From the last batch of white ducks were left 1 mommy duck and 3 ducklings.  Those 3 ducklings grew up and are now full grown ducks.  These are the “bibe” variety.  These are organically raised ducks.  I think they are around 6 months old, you can check this blog for previous posts about them.  We never bought any animal feed.  These ducks ate the left over peelings of our organic fruit, some left over rice, some left over coconut meat, the grass on the garden, some herbs, papaya leaves and some insects and grubs they find interesting.

Why are we slaughtering them?  We got fed up with their pooping on the cemented walks!  So the ducklings finally grew their wing feathers this month, then all four ducks lately have been hanging around the cemented walks and pooping all over!  Irritating.  When they pooped in the grass, we don’t mind, but intentionally pooping on the walks is grrr….

My wife initially the soft hearted got some chicken plastic wire and caged them in a small spot.  The same day, the ducks went on a hunger strike.  They were given food, but they ignored it and just sat!

I told my wife that those ducks, those investments will be of no good to us if you cage them and make them sick.  They need their freedom to forage and do what they want.

So my wife the softy extended the chicken wire to fence off 1/4 of the garden, but the chicken wire was short.  And the ducks went on a hunger strike again… same day.  Finally the ducks found a loop hole to freedom.

My wife was convinced it was time.  Time to convince the kids it was time.  They said boo… thumbs down… boo… then my wife said, you clean their poops… they still said boo… so when my wife left the dinner table I told the kids the Bible stories they keep hearing from their mom.  That those shepherd characters who kept every lamb in check was looking after their own meals… they ate their own lambs… and they were sure the lambs were well fed.  Just like our ducks.  We cared for them, we made sure they were organic and now it was time to eat them.

My eldest boy was convinced.  The next 2 were convinced.  My eldest boy got a pen and in his rudimentary hand writing wrote the order of slaughter:

1. Gracia – the mommy duck
2. Uppy – the big male duck
3. Ugly boy – the small male duck
4. In-tsik – the small female duck they say looks Chinese (Intsik)

So we have duck scheduled on several dinners when the slaughterers are available.  Our driver on weekdays,  and on weekends ate Arlene can do the honors.  The plan is to slaughter the scheduled duck in the afternoon and serve that same duck fresh for dinner.

Will let you know what they taste like.  I’ll have my parts raw please.