Market Possibilities and Yields of Muscovy Ducks
Dressed at Various Ages
E.
Department of Poultry Science, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, Ontario
(Received for publication September 12, 1961)
/"XNTARIO farmers are showing in-
^—* creased interest in the production of
Muscovy ducks for market purposes. How-
ever, inquiry of growers concerning growth
rate, feed efficiency, dressing percentages
and meat yields, yielded little or no in-
formation. A search of available literature
proved equally fruitless; therefore, a study
of these factors as related to Muscovy
ducks seemed justified. Because some
Muscovy ducks are now reared in confine-
ment, rather than on range as is the more
common practice, some comparison of these
two methods was also made.
PROCEDURE
The ducklings used in this study were
started for one week in a battery, then
moved to the floor and brooded under heat
lamps. For the first three weeks all re-
ceived the same treatment. Chick starter
was fed during the first week followed by
a commercial niacin-fortified duck starter
containing 20 percent protein—both in
crumble form. Heavy oats were supplied
in a separate hanging feeder after the sec-
ond week. In addition some freshly-cut
lawn clippings were supplied daily. Water
and granite grit were constantly available.
Wood shavings were used for litter.
At three weeks of age the ducklings were
randomized into two lots. Difficulty in se-
curing the desired number made necessary
the use of more males than females and
also a few ducklings of a slightly greater
age. These were divided between the two
lots. One lot was placed on a good ladino
clover pasture with a colony house for
S. SNYDER
shelter; the other confined in a 10' X 20'
pen in a brooder house.
Commencing at six weeks of age both
lots received a commercial pelleted duck
finisher containing 17 percent protein.
Heavy No. 3 C. W. oats were continued
until 14 weeks of age, when finisher mash
was discontinued and a grain mixture con-
taining equal parts by weight of oats and
wheat was substituted. At this time also
the confined group was moved to the range
because of deterioration in their condition
in spite of a daily supply of fresh lawn
clippings.
In spite of a continuous supply of oats
and lawn clippings, feather picking com-
menced in both lots at the age of three
weeks, just as soon as the sappy tail feath-
ers and the slightly later wing feathers ap-
peared. Generous applications of pine tar
failed to discourage picking which became
so general and vicious that at seven weeks
of age debeaking became necessary to save
the birds. An electrical debeaker was used
to remove the upper mandible to a point
posterior to the "bean." This treatment
proved effective. The confined lot required
debeaking a few days sooner than those
on range, where it became equally neces-
sary.
Individual bird weights were taken at
one day of age and at 3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14,
17, and 18 weeks. Feed consumption also
was recorded at each weighing. Two or
more representative samples of both males
and females were slaughtered, dressed and
eviscerated at 10, 12, 17, and 18 weeks of
age and weights recorded. The carcasses
813
814 E. S. SNYDER

were then ice-water chilled, Cryovac pack- weeks, shown in Table 2, are lower than
aged, frozen at — 20°F. and stored at 0°F. those of Pekin ducks as reported by Hunter
for later meat yield tests. The intention and Scholes (1954). However, unlike Pekins,
had been to dress samples at 14 and 16 Muscovy males maintained rapid growth
weeks, but a heavy moult and extreme pin- up to at least 18 weeks, though the females
nyness at 14 weeks and an unexpected in- made relatively little gain after 12 to 14
terference with plans at 16 weeks resulted weeks. These variations in growth rate and
in the dressing intervals here reported. size of the two sexes at maturity are im-
The selected carcasses were defrosted portant factors in marketing Muscovies.
in cold running tap water, drained, and They are also a reason for the greatly de-
dried with clean cloths. Cooking was done creased feed/gain efficiency found after 14
in individual open pans in a double oven weeks of age.
electric stove with oven temperature regu- Dressing percentages are shown in Table
lators set at 32S°F. The carcasses were 3. There was no difference between males
loosely covered by a sheet of foil and and females; both showed a similar per-
cooked until a meat thermometer inserted in centage increase in eviscerated and carcass
a thigh recorded a temperature of 195°F. weights with greater maturity. Dressing
At this time the cooked carcasses were re- losses averaged 13.2 percent, quite similar
moved from the pans and the drippings to the average dressing loss of 13.3 per-
weighed. Removal of the foil about IS cent in 8 to 24 week old goslings reported
minutes before cooking was completed al- by Deskins and Winter (1956). The dress-
lowed the skin to brown nicely. ing percentage for males at 10, 12, 17 and
After sufficient cooling to allow han- 18 weeks was 86.8, 85.1, 87.3 and 87.9
dling, the skin and edible meat were care- percent respectively and for females 85.1,
fully separated from the carcass and 86.9, 88.3, and 87.0 percent. Clements and
weights of skin, edible meat, bone, and Winter (1956) reported an average dress-
any waste were recorded. All weights in ing loss in Pekin ducks of 11.8 percent
this test were taken in grams and trans- and Snyder (1959) a loss of 11.7 percent.
posed to pounds. Eviscerated yields of Muscovies at the
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
TABLE 1.—Feed efficiency of Muscovy ducks
The feed/gain results are shown in
Table 1. Up to 10 weeks, when sampling Age in No. of Feed Gain Feed/gain
weeks birds
for slaughter was started, the "range"
group had a feed/gain^ efficiency of 3.14 Combined
1-3 53 130.0 77.54 1.68
as compared with 3.59 for the confined Gr. 1. Confined
group. This advantage was maintained up 3-6 27 179.50 64.24 2.79
6-9 27 251.75 44.25 5.69
to 14 weeks despite heavy daily consump- 9-10 27 79.62 12.93 6.16
tion of lawn clippings by the confined 10-12 23 97.88 15.35 6.38
12-14 10 53.50 6.16 8.69
group. The range males and females ex- Gr. 2. On Range
ceeded the growth of their counterparts 3-6 26 152.50 55.40 2.75
6-9 26 221.75 52.0 4.26
in confinement and at a lower feed re- 9-10 26 66.87 15.43 4.33
quirement per pound of gain. Snyder and 10-12 22 98.13 24.17 4.06
12-14 10 78.50 12.49 6.29
Orr (1955) found the same to be true of Gr. 1 & 2. Combined
goslings. 14-17 20 160.00 5.42 29.52
17-18 8 92.75 1.97 47.08
The unweighted average weights to ten
 YIELDS AND MARKETING OF MUSCOVY DUCKS 815

TABLE 2.—Growth rate of Muscovy ducks—1960-61

Males Females Males and

Age in females
weeks No. of Aver. wt. No. of Aver. wt. unweighted
birds in lbs. birds in lbs. average
0 & & 9 .117 or 1.87 oz
3 32 1.79 21 1.32 1.55
6 32 4.47 21 2.92 3.53
9 32 6.69 21 4.16 5.42
10 32 7.38 21 4.43 5.90
12 28 8.58 17 4.76 6.67
17 12 9.87 8 5.22 7.54
18 4 10.90 4 5.36 8.13
Males Females
Age in Confined Range Confined Range
weeks
No. of Aver. wt. No. of Aver. wt. No. of Aver. wt. No. 3f Aver. wt.
birds in lbs. birds in lbs. birds in lbs. birds in lbs.
3 32 1.79* 21 1.32f
6 16 4.63 16 4.32 11 3.08 10 2.74
9 16 6.60 16 6.78 11 4.29 10 4.01
10 16 7.22 16 7.54 11 4.50 10 4.35
12 14 8.22 14 8.94 9 4.65 8 4.88

* Total males,
f Total females.

several ages were 69.5, 70.9, 72.0 and 73.5
percent for the males and 69.2, 73.6, 71.8
and 71.8 percent for the females, the aver-
age total shrink amounting to 28.5 percent.
This compares favourably with the average
shrink of 29.1 percent in Pekins reported
by Clements and Winter (1956) and with
the 27 to 33 percent losses in 8 to 9 week
old Pekins reported by other workers; also
the 28.5 percent shrink in goslings reported
by Deskins and Winter (1956).
In Table 4 is presented the percentage
yields of the various parts based on dressed
weight. That of eviscerated weight ranged
from 80.1 to 84.7 percent and that of the
carcass, minus neck and giblets, from 69.5
to 75.4 percent. Yields of goslings as re-
ported by Snyder and Orr (1953) at simi-
lar ages were 1 to 5 percent lower. Com-
parison with eviscerated yields of broilers,
roasters, capons and fowls of 79.7, 80.4,
82.6 and 74.3 percent respectively is also
quite favourable (unpublished data). This
is not true with turkeys, however, espe-
cially adult turkeys, where Orr et al.
(1956) have reported eviscerated yields

TABLE 3.—Effect of age on dressing percentages of Muscovy ducks {based on live weig

Females Males

Age in Aver, No. of Dressed Evisc. Carcass Aver, No. of Dressed Evisc. Carcass
weeks live wt. birds wt.* wt.* wt.* live wt. birds wt.* wt.* wt.*
10 4.50 4 85.13 69.20 61.19 7.37 4 86.79 69.49 60.27
12 4.85 6 86.95 73.65 65.53 8.44 8 85.14 70.94 63.15
17 5.15 4 88.27 71.83 63.82 10.14 4 87.29 72.04 64.41
18 5.36 4 86.98 71.80 64.70 10.90 4 87.91 73.47 65.24

* Prior to chilling in ice-water.

816 E. S. SNYDER

TABLE 4.—Percentage of various parts of Muscovy ducks {based on dressed weight)

Age in No. of Necks Giblets Raining Total

Sex Feet Heads w
weeks birds carcass evisc. wt.
10 4 9 3.35 5.84 3.34 6.21 71.88* 81.29t 18.71
12 6 9 3.01 5.95 3.62 5.73 75.36 84.71 15.29
17 4 9 2.99 5.65 3.49 5.59 72.30 81.38 18.62
18 4 9 2.96 5.29 3.30 4.87 74.38 82.54 17.46
10 4 <? 3.68 5.33 4.03 5.97 69.45 80.07 19.93
12 8 & 3.43 5.48 3.93 5.21 71.18 83.32 16.68
17 4 c? 3.28 5.37 3.66 5.09 73.78 82.53 17.47
18 4 & 3.41 5.05 3.91 5.45 74.21 83.57 16.43

* Necks and giblets not included.

f Necks and giblets included.

based on dressed weight ranging from 86.6
to 88.8 percent.
A full series of weights from live weight
to that of edible cooked meat, drippings and
bones is listed in Table 5.
The yield of edible cooked meat at ages
10 to 18 weeks increased only slightly over
2 percent in the females, but 4 to 5 per-
cent in the males. Decrease, with age, in
percentage of bone in the two sexes proved
more uniform as shown in Table 6.
Cooking shrink, based on uncooked car-
cass weights of the two sexes at the several
ages averaged 35.7 percent for the females
and 34.6 percent for the males—quite
comparable with the cooking shrink of
goslings at similar ages, Snyder (1959).
Deskins and Winter (1956) reported a
cooking loss of 35 percent in geese and
Clements and Winter (1956) a cooking
loss in 7.5 week Pekin ducks, including
fat in the drippings, of 38.6 to 51.8 per-
cent when pressure cooked. At the younger
ages, the males had a lower percentage of
skin and slightly more meat than the fe-
males. The total cooked edible portion,
based on carcass weight, was 49.1, 46.5,
47.2, and 50.4 percent for the females at
the several ages and 46.1, 45.6, 49.6 and
50.0 percent for the males.
The majority of females even at 10
weeks of age and especially so at 17 to
18 weeks, carried Grade A finish and fleshr
ing. The males did not reach this condition

TABLE 5.—Effect of age on average weights of live, dressed, eviscerated, cooked carcass, edible portion,
drippings and bones in Muscovy ducks
(In pounds)

Age in No. of Uncooked Roasted Edible

weeks birds Sex Live Dressed* Evisc. f carcass f carcass portion Drippings Bones

10 4 9 4.50 3.83 3.11 2.75 1.79 1.35 .43 .35

12 6 9 4.85 4.28 3.57 3.18 1.94 1.48 .43 .39
17 4 9 5.15 4.55 3.70 3.29 2.06 1.55 .45 .38
18 4 9 5.36 4.66 3.85 3.47 2.30 1.75 .49 .36
10 4 &1 7.37 6.40 5.12 4.44 2.94 2.05 .38 .65
12 8 d 8.44 7.18 5.99 5.33 3.35 2.43 .45 .68
17 4 cT 10.14 8.85 7.30 6.53 4.36 3.24 .85 .82
18 4 & 10.90 9.58 8.01 7.11 4.69 3.55 .79 .80

* Prior to chilling in ice water,

t Necks and giblets included.
j Necks and giblets not included.
 YIELDS AND MARKETING OF MUSCOVY DUCKS 817

TABLE 6.—Edible cooked meat and bone in Muscovy ducks

Percentage ; meat of: Percentage bone of:

Age in weeks
Live wt. Dressed wt.* Evisc. wt.* Carcass wt. f Live wt. Evisc. wt."! Carcass wt.f
Females
10 30.01 35.26 43.37 49.05 7.74 11.18 12.64
12 30.49 35.06 41.39 46.52 8.04 10.92 12.27
17 30.12 34.13 41.94 47.20 7.42 10.32 11.62
18 32.61 37.49 45.42 50.40 6.70 9.33 10.35
Males
10 27.77 31.99 39.95 46.07 8.85 12.74 14.69
12 28.80 33.82 40.59 45.60 8.04 11.33 12.73
17 31.96 36.61 44.36 49.62 8.13 11.29 12.63
18 32.62 37.11 44.40 50.00 7.37 10.03 11.29

* Prior to chilling in ice water.

f Neck and giblets not included.

until 17 weeks of age, though it is possible
that sufficient finish would have been pres-
ent at 16 weeks.
SUMMARY
White Muscovy ducklings randomized
into two lots at 3 weeks of age required
3.59 pounds of grain per pound of gain
up to 10 weeks for the confined lot as
compared with 3.14 pounds for the lot
on a ladino clover range.
The unweighted average weight of males
and females at 3, 6, 9 and 10 weeks was
1.55, 3.53, 5.42 and 5.90 pounds respec-
tively and for 12, 17 and 18 weeks, 6.67,
7.54 and 8.13 pounds.
Average live weight of sample males
(combined range and confined reared)
dressed at 10, 12, 17 and 18 weeks was.
7.37, 8.44, 10.14 and 10.90 pounds re-
spectively and of females 4.50, 4.85, 5.15
and 5.36 pounds.
Dressing percentages were 86.8, 85.1,
87.3 and 87.9 percent for males at the
several ages and 85.1, 86.9, 88.3 and 87.0
percent for females.
Eviscerated percentages based on live
weight were 69.5, 70.9, 72.0 and 73.5 per-
cent for males and 69.2, 73.6, 71.8 and
71.8 percent for females. The overall live
to eviscerated loss was 28.5 percent, con-
sisting of 13.2 percent blood and feathers
and a 15.3 percent loss during evisceration.
Cooking shrink averaged 34.6 percent
for males and 35.7 percent for females.
The cooked edible portion, based on the

TABLE 7.—Percentage of various parts of cooked Muscovy ducks

(Based on uncooked carcass* weight)

Age in No. of Carcass Cooked Cooking Drip- Total

weeks birds weight carcass shrink pings Skin Meat edible Bones Waste

Females
10 4 2.75 65.17 34.83 12.76 9.42 39.63 49.05 12.64 .72
12 6 3.18 62.97 37.03 13.46 7.74 38.79 46.52 12.27 .67
17 4 3.29 62.59 37.41 13.83 6.48 40.72 47.20 11.62 .60
18 4 3.47 66.35 33.65 14.26 5.27 45.13 50.40 10.35 1.11
Males
10 4 4.44 66.09 33.91 8.60 6.79 39.27 46.07 14.69 .76
12 8 5.33 62.94 37.06 8.50 5.52 40.08 45.60 12.73 .88
17 4 6.53 66.84 33.16 13.07 6.13 43.12 49.62 12.63 1.10
18 4 7.11 65.91 34.09 11.08 5.24 44.76 50.00 11.29 .86

* Neck and giblets not included.

818 E. S. SNYDER

uncooked carcass weight (minus necks and
giblets), was 46.1, 45.6, 49.6 and SO.O
percent respectively for the males and 49.1,
46.5, 47.2 and 50.4 percent for the females.
REFERENCES
Clements, P., and A. R. Winter, 1956. Duck
shrinkage from farm to table and cooked
edible meat of parts. Am. Egg Poultry Rev.
18: 44.
Deskins, B., and A. R. Winter, 1956. Cooked
edible meat in parts of poultry, II. geese. J.
Am. Dietet. A. 32: 211-213.
Hunter, J. M., and J. C. Scholes, 1953. Profitable
Duck Management (9th edition). Beacon Mill-
ing Company, Inc., Cayuga, N.Y.
Orr, H. L., E. C. Hunt, and E. S. Snyder, 1956.
A comparison of dressing percentages and yields
of edible cooked meat in five strains of turkeys
as broilers and as mature stock, 1956. Poultry
Sci. 35: 333-338.
Snyder, E. S., W. F. Pepper, S. J. Slinger, and
H. L. Orr, 1955. The value of pasture for the
production of goose broilers. Poultry Sci. 34:
35-38.
Snyder, E. S., and H. L. Orr, 1953. Market possi-
bilities and yields of goslings dressed at various
ages. Poultry Sci. 32: 181-182.
Snyder, E. S., 1959. Duck and goose raising. On-
tario Department of Agriculture, Bull. 532: 53.

Bacterial Counts Associated with the Chilling of

Fryer Chickens
ANTHONY W. KOTULA, JAMES E. THOMSON AND JACK A. KINNER
Field Crops and Animal Products Branch, Market Quality Research Division, Agricultural Marketing
Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland

(Received for publication September 15, 1961)

T N ORDER to obtain market poultry of and B) located in Delaware. In each plant,

-*• good quality and long shelf-life, the
bacterial population on the birds after
processing should be as low as possible
(Ayres et al., 1950). Good sanitary prac-
tices in commercial processing plants have
accomplished much toward maintaining
high quality during storage. Each step in the
dressing and eviscerating operation has
been evaluated to determine its effect on
the bacterial load (Walker and Ayres,
1956; Drewniak et al., 1954; Gunderson
etal., 1954; and May, 1961).
With the advent of new processing tech-
niques, bacterial levels may be affected.
The objective of this work was to deter-
mine the effect of several chilling proce-
dures on the numbers of bacteria on chilled
poultry.
PROCEDURE
The experiments were carried out in two
poultry processing plants (designated A
both standard chill tanks and a commercial
continuous chiller were tested.
In the standard tank chilling used in
both plants, a layer of slush ice was
placed in the bottom of the tanks; the
tanks were then filled with birds, and
enough water and ice was added to com-
pletely cover the birds. The carcasses re-
mained in these tanks for six hours without
agitation.
In plant A, an oscillating-vat type of
continuous chiller was in use.1 This chiller
does not cause the birds to be splashed
about vigorously. Tap water at about 57°
F. was introduced into the prechill unit
and overflowed into a floor drain. Because
the rate of flow varied, the amount of tap
water added to the prechill unit was not
measured. In the chill unit portion of the
1
A more extensive description of the chilling
systems used is presented by Kotula et al. (1960).