Brian,
Just made a chuck roast tonight, which is a pretty tough piece of meat. What I alway do with these is to brown it in a little olive oil, in a pan with a cover. After browning, pour a bottle of beer in with the roast, some rosemary, thyme and caraway seed and cover. Place in a 325 degree oven for 2 hours. After two hours, add 3-4 whole onions, carrots, parsnips, and cook covered for another hour. Braising is the way to cook any tough piece of meat. Liquid, and a long, slow cook.
I regards to the ducks.... If these are tame ducks they should have a lot if fat on them.... This is a good thing! The problem with cooking duck is, if you roast it until the logs are tender, the breast will be like a sole of a shoe. The legs and thighs are cooked separately. I cut off the legs, leaving the thighs attached to them, and cook them in a covered casserole, adding an inch off water in the bottom. You can pack as many legs in as you can ft. Cook them covered for 3 hours in a 325 degree oven. When you open the casserole up, they will be swimming in fat and the meat will fall off the bone. Carefully remove them, place in a frying pan and cook in a hot oven, 425 degrees, until the skin is crisp. This is a messy procedure and it may be better to cook out on a grill, as there's lots of spattering. This is called duck confit! You can see some great recipes on YouTube.
The breast are cooked, breast down, in a hot frying pan, to brown, and then turned over and placed in the hot, 425 degree oven. You want to cook the breasts only until they're medium rare. They will be tough and taste like liver if you over cook them. About 8-10 minutes in the hot oven should do it. Filet the breast off the bone and add a little jelly of your choice to the juices in the pan and pour over the sliced duck breast. Make sure you let the breast rest after taking them out of the oven, as the juices will all run out of the meat if you cut them right away. Resting gives the juices a chance to get reabsorbed back into the meat. This goes for any piece of meat you roast.
With either one of these recipes, make sure you don't splash any of them up on you forehead.... As your tongue will slap your brains out trying to get to it!
Check out YouTube.. Lots of duck breast and duck confit cooking info in there.
I've got a Masters in Education, but a P.H.D. in YouTube!
Muskrat Love