North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Melissa Kacalanos <mijwiz@yahoo.com>]

An organic fruit farm near me uses ducks for pest control and eggs, and it apparently works for them. The duck breeds they use are for eggs, not meat, so plucking isn't an issue.
http://daringdrake.com/

Melissa

--- On Wed, 1/26/11, Deb S <debs913@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Deb S <debs913@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] ducks
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 10:39 AM

One more comment on ducks...finding someone to process your birds is difficult.  Most small processors don't do waterfowl.  To have enough birds to do any good in an orchard, I would think you'd want to harvest at least some in the off season.  So you might check to see what processors are available in your area.  

I've processed my own chickens and it's a chore.  Waterfowl are even more difficult as plucking requires either singeing or parrafin waxing to remove pin feathers.

deb