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In total, there are 110 species of ducks in the world, and 30 of them can be found on the territory of Our Country. These ducks even belong to different genera, although they are part of the same duck family. Almost all species of ducks are wild and can only be found in zoos or among lovers of this bird family as decorative pets, and not productive poultry.
Among the ducks there are real beauties that could become a decoration of the poultry yard.
Very interesting spotted duck.
Simply luxurious ducks – tangerines
But only two species of ducks have been domesticated: the Muscovy duck in South America and the mallard in Eurasia.
Either the Indians did not understand breeding work, or they did not consider it necessary to deal with this issue, but the Muscovy duck did not give domestic breeds.
All other breeds of domestic ducks are descended from the mallard. Due to mutations and selection, domestic thoroughbred ducks still differ from each other, although only slightly.
For some reason, there is a belief that all today’s duck breeds come from the Peking duck. Where this opinion came from is completely incomprehensible, since the Peking duck is an obvious mutation with a white color that does not exist in wild mallards. Perhaps the fact is that the Peking duck, being a breed of meat, was used in breeding new meat breeds of ducks.
In Our Country, unlike China, eating duck eggs is not very common. This is largely due to the fact that the chance of contracting salmonellosis through a duck egg is much higher than when eating chicken eggs.
Directions of domestic duck breeding
Duck breeds are divided into three groups: meat, egg-meat / meat-egg and egg.
The egg group includes the minimum number, or rather, the only breed of ducks: the Indian runner.
Native to Southeast Asia, this breed has the most exotic appearance of any mallard. They are sometimes called penguins. This breed is already 2000 years old, but it has not received wide distribution. Even in the USSR, this breed was in small numbers among ducks of other breeds bred on state farms and collective farms. Today they can be found only in small farms, where they are kept not so much for the sake of production, but for the sake of an exotic species.
The suits of the runners are quite diverse. They can be the usual “wild” color, white, piebald, black, speckled, blue.
These ducks are big water lovers. They cannot live without it, therefore, a mandatory requirement for keeping runners is the presence of a bath. Interestingly, these ducks without water even reduce egg production. When properly maintained, ducks lay an average of 200 eggs. Proper maintenance means not only the presence of a bath, but also unlimited access to food. This is a breed that should not be put on a diet.
The weight of drake runners is 2 kg, ducks – 1,75 kg.
Runners tolerate frost well. In the summer, when kept on free pasture, they find their own food by eating plants, insects and snails. True, if these ducks penetrate the garden, you can say goodbye to the harvest.
But, as in any matter, the problem of eating all the vegetation that catches the eye of runners has another side. Abroad, these ducks work daily at weeding vineyards. Since these ducks are distinguished by tender and tasty meat, plantation owners solve several problems at once: they do not use herbicides, saving money and producing environmentally friendly products: they get decent grape harvests; supply duck meat to the market.
If egg breeds have nothing to choose for breeding in a private backyard, then when choosing other directions, it would be good to have a description of duck breeds at hand. And, preferably, with a photo.
Meat breeds
Meat breeds of ducks are the most common in the world. And the first place in this group is firmly held by the Peking duck. In the USSR, Peking ducks and crosses with them accounted for 90% of the total meat duck population.
Peking duck
The name “Beijing” breed received, of course, from a city in China. It was in China that this kind of domestic duck was bred 300 years ago. Having arrived in Europe at the end of the 19th century, the Peking duck quickly gained recognition as the best meat breed. This is not surprising given the average weight of drakes of 4 kg, and ducks of 3,7 kg. But in birds: either meat or eggs. Peking duck egg production is low: 100 – 140 eggs per year.
Another disadvantage of this breed is its white plumage. When it comes to young animals slaughtered for meat, the gender of the ducks does not matter. If you need to leave part of the herd for the tribe, you have to wait until the ducks molt into the “adult” plumage with a pair of feathers bent up on the tails of the drakes. True, there is one secret.
So hunting stories about how a man went to the loud quacking of drakes in the spring should not be believed. Either he is lying, or a poacher, or he is confused.
The hubbub, demanding feeding, is also raised by females.
Gray Ukrainian duck
The color differs from the wild mallard only in lighter tones, which may be the variability of colors in the local population of mallards, since this breed was bred by crossing local Ukrainian ducks with wild mallards and subsequent long-term selection of desirable individuals.
In terms of weight, the gray Ukrainian duck is not much inferior to the Peking duck. Females weigh 3 kg, drakes – 4. When fattening this breed, do not use special feed. At the same time, ducklings by 2 months are already gaining a slaughter weight of 2 kg. The egg production of this breed is 120 eggs per year.
The gray Ukrainian duck was strictly selected for unpretentiousness to feed and conditions of detention. She calmly tolerates frosts in unheated poultry houses. The only condition that must be observed in this case is a deep litter.
Ducks of this breed are often fattened free-range in ponds, driven to the poultry yard only to give concentrates for lunch. Although, of course, the duck also receives food in the morning before pasture to the pond and in the evening before spending the night.
There are offspring splintered as a result of mutations from the gray Ukrainian duck: clay and white Ukrainian ducks. Differences in plumage color.
Bashkir fire
The appearance of the breed of Bashkir ducks is an accident. In the process of improving the white Peking duck at the Blagovarsky breeding plant, colored individuals began to appear in the herd of white birds. Most likely, this is not a mutation, but a return manifestation of the wild mallard color genes. This feature has been identified and fixed. As a result, a “pure-bred Peking duck” of a colored color, called the Bashkir duck, was obtained.
The color of the Bashkir duck resembles a wild mallard, but paler. Drakes are brighter and more similar to wild ones. The presence of piebald in color is a legacy of white ancestors.
Otherwise, the Bashkir duck repeats the Peking duck. The same weight as the Beijing one, the same growth rate, the same egg production.
Black white-breasted ducks
The breed also belongs to the meat. By weight, it is slightly inferior to Beijing. The weight of drakes is from 3,5 to 4 kg, ducks from 3 to 3,5 kg. Egg production is low: up to 130 eggs per year. The color, as the name implies, is black with a white chest.
The breed was bred at the Ukrainian Institute of Poultry Farming by crossing local black white-breasted ducks with khaki campbell ducks. This breed is a genetic reserve. Black white-breasted have good reproductive qualities.
The weight of ducklings by the slaughter age reaches one and a half kilograms.
Moscow white
Meat breed. It was bred in the 40s of the last century at the Ptichnoye state farm near Moscow by crossing khaki campbell and Peking duck. According to its characteristics, it is very similar to Peking duck. Even the weight of drakes and ducks is the same as the Beijing breed.
But ducklings at two months weigh a little more than Beijing ducklings. True, not much. The weight of two-month-old Moscow white ducklings is 2,3 kg. Egg production of Moscow white ducks is 130 eggs per year.
Meat and egg breeds of ducks
Egg-meat or meat-egg breeds belong to the universal type. They have certain differences in the number of eggs and carcass weight. Some are closer to the meat type, others to the egg type. But, if you want to get both eggs and meat from ducks, then you need to start it with universal breeds.
Khaki campbell
Meat and egg breed of ducks, bred by an Englishwoman for the needs of her family. Adele Campbell set herself a simple task: to provide her family with duck. And in passing and duck eggs. Therefore, she crossed fawn-piebald Indian penguins with a Rouen duck and added the blood of mallards painted like wild mallards. As a result, in 1898, a mallard-after-bleach duck was presented at the exhibition.
It is unlikely that such a color fell to the liking of the visitors of the exhibition, and even on the wave of fashion for fawn colors. And Mrs. Adele Campbell decided to cross again with fawn and piebald Indian runners to get a fawn color.
“If everything was so simple,” said genetics, then little studied. The ducks turned out to match the color of the uniforms of the soldiers of the English army of those times. After looking at the result, Mrs. Campbell decided that the name “khaki” would suit the ducks. And she could not resist the vain desire to perpetuate her name in the name of the breed.
Today, khaki campbell ducks have three colors: fawn, dark and white.
They inherited the dark color from the Rouen duck and this coloration is most similar to the color of the wild mallard. White in a certain percentage of offspring occurs when crossing piebald individuals. Further, it can be fixed.
Campbell khakis weigh a little compared to meat breeds. Drakes on average 3 kg, ducks about 2,5 kg. But they have a good egg production: 250 eggs per year. This breed grows quickly. Young growth in two months is gaining about 2 kg of weight. Due to the thin skeleton, the slaughter yield of meat is very decent.
But khaki has one drawback. They are not very responsible for the duties of a mother hen. Therefore, if you are going to breed khaki campbell, you will have to buy an incubator along with the ducklings and master the incubation of duck eggs.
Mirrored
In color – an ordinary mallard, only lives in a poultry house and is not afraid of people. The name is given by the blue “mirror” on the wings, which is characteristic of mallard drakes. The color variation of ducks is much higher than that of drakes. Females may be almost white.
The breed was bred in the 50s of the 20th century in the Kuchinsky state farm. When breeding, strict requirements were imposed on the future breed. The goal was to obtain a hardy bird with high quality meat and high egg production. They kept ducks in Spartan conditions, achieving high frost resistance and selecting young animals with high productivity for repair.
The result was a breed of medium weight. Drake weighs from 3 to 3,5 kg, duck – 2,8 – 3 kg. Ducklings gain 2 kg by two months. This breed starts laying eggs at 5 months and lays up to 130 eggs per year.
It is unpretentious in keeping and often gains weight on free grazing. Possibly due to its “common” wild mallard appearance, this breed has not gained popularity with breeders and is kept in small numbers on small farms. Or, perhaps, the poultry farmers are simply afraid that would-be hunters, who cannot distinguish an elk from a cow, will shoot all domestic ducks, rejoicing that they do not even try to fly away.
Cayuga
It is difficult to confuse this meat and egg breed of American origin with wild mallards. Although craftsmen can be found. The second name of this breed is “green duck”, since the plumage of the bulk of the livestock is black with a green tint.
Cayugas easily tolerate a cold climate, behave much quieter than the Peking duck. Able to carry up to 150 eggs per year. The weight of adult drakes is on average 3,5 kg, ducks – 3 kg.
It happens. Not only cayugas run out of cartridges.
Cayugas have a well-developed brooding instinct, so they can be used as hens for those breeds of ducks (for example, Khaki Campbell) that do not consider it necessary to sit on eggs.
Cayugas have tasty meat, but they are more often grown for decorative purposes, because of the dark stumps in the skin, the carcass of the cayuga does not look very appetizing.
Indian
The South American species of duck stands apart: Muscovy duck or Indo-duck. There are no breeds for this species.
The decent weight of an adult drake (up to 7 kg), the large size of the species, “voiceless”: indo-ducks do not quack, but only hiss – made this type of duck quite popular with poultry farmers.
Ducks have a well-developed maternal instinct. They can even sit on goose eggs.
The meat of these ducks is low-fat, with high palatability, but precisely because of the lack of fat, it is somewhat dry. Also a plus for this view is the lack of noise.
Of the minuses – potential cannibalism.
To summarize
Unfortunately, many breeds of ducks in a photo without scale are still impossible to distinguish from each other. It is necessary to know a set of signs in order to determine the breed of a duck. And it’s easier to buy ducklings in breeding farms with a guarantee that you will be sold the desired breed.
If ducks are needed for industrial cultivation for meat, you need to take white breeds of meat ducks: Peking or Moscow.
For universal use, a private trader would be well suited for a mirror breed, but it is very similar to a wild duck. Therefore, it is better to take khaki campbell.
And for the exotic, you can get a runner, cayugas, or find another original-looking breed.