Duck Sorting

Today I sorted the ducks from the drakes, at least among the Pekins. They're still too young to have their sex feathers, but I can tell the difference in their voices. The females have a loud, honking quack, whereas the males make more of a whispery wheezing sound. Out of nine Pekins, there are four females and five males, so I chose the three males I liked best for breeding stock. I really only need one, but I'd rather have some redundancy built in. I would hate to lose my one breeding drake to a raccoon.

The remaining two ducks are now ensconced in the brooder house for the night. I plan to slaughter them on Friday. Now to do a little bit of math and figure out the cost to bring them to market weight.

Purchase	$3.65
Shipping	$1.00
Feed	$7.00*
Total	$11.65

*This is a rough estimate, since I didn't actually total up receipts. Actual amount may be slightly lower.

I'll estimate a dressed weight of four lbs, so the cost per pound is $2.91. I'll have more accurate data for that after I actually slaughter them.