American Saxony ducks

[duck walk]

does anyone have some of thoses? They look very pretty to me in the photos I have seen...never seen one in person...they are pretty large and are consideered meat and egg ducks...almost as large as Pekins...I think Holderread (sp?) has them...any pictures or real time info on them from owners would be appreciated...

 

[katharinad]

America and Saxony (Germany), two different continents. Just going by that it does not make sense, unless someone bread something American into the German Saxony duck. I've seen American Saxony and Saxony mentioned, and cannot find the difference between them. Nor is there any reference to an American version in any breed literature. Holderread was the one who originally bought over this breed from Germany. All Saxonies in the USA are off springs of the original stock he brought over. I have them and they are very large birds weighing 9-12 pounds. My dogs don't even mess with them, just because of their size. They are very intelligent birds that love to learn new things, but at the same time will outsmart other ducks. They can open latches! Their playfulness and curiosity makes them tinkle with things. I've seen them grab a bowl on the side only to pull it away from the others. They are also extremely alert. Coyotes howling makes them run back to their duck house, where they get locked in at night. They do the same when our dog get wound up about something strange. They either run to the duck house or run to stand behind the dogs. I also have a kiddie pool with slide. They use the slide or simply jump off the slide into the pool. Did I mention they answer when you call them. That way you know where they are. Saxonies are heavy breed birds, but they are more muscular then Pekins. They have less fat then a Pekin duck.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
The trouble is that Saxony is used as both a Breed and a Color/Pattern. I suspect American Saxony refers to a duck that has the Saxony pattern colors but is a different breed under the feathers. Where would you expect to find breed literature on these crosses? BTW the original Saxony duck was a cross breed. See Wikipedia for this distription: "The Saxony is classed as a heavy duck, weighing between seven and eight pounds (3 to 3.6 kilos). It is considered to be a dual-purpose bird suited to both meat and egg production. Females will lay 200 or more large white eggs in a year. Both drakes and hens have yellowish bills with orange legs and feet. Drakes resemble a faded Mallard in hue, while females are a light buff color with white streaks on the face with some blueish shading. "

Either your Saxonies are way overweight or you are guessing at their weight and overestimating, do your birds otherwise match the distription? I beleive with some messing with genetics, Rouens can be produced that look like Saxonies. I know I have read mentions of Saxony-Mallards and even Saxony calls

 

[duck walk]

I was only going by the title I saw on a duck site and I had never seen those particular ducks before...I thought they were very pretty and I like the bigger ducks like the Pekins and so forth but colors are nice...I will check with Holderread (sp?) if I feel I have to have some...thanks for the input...

 

[katharinad]

Quote:
I haven't put mine on the scale yet, so I don't know their weight. I've taken those numbers from a book I have, you are right those numbers are wrong. Mine are off Holderread stock and they do match the colors and shape as described.

 

[katharinad]

Quote:
Sorry didn't mean to offend you. I'm from Germany, and it is like mixing Apples and Oranges to me when words like that are thrown together. I did not imply that you did not know the difference. Please understand that English is not my native language, even though I do live in the USA. Sometimes things sound different from what I've meant to say, simply because of the language thing.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Sorry didn't mean to offend you. I'm from Germany, and it is like mixing Apples and Oranges to me when words like that are thrown together. I did not imply that you did not know the difference. Please understand that English is not my native language, even though I do live in the USA. Sometimes things sound different from what I've meant to say, simply because of the language thing.

Das ist gut, ich war nicht beleidigt. ~gd I haven't used German since I got out of school, all my neighbors were 2nd generation German where I grew up, I hope it was right.

 

[katharinad]

Wunderbar! It's wonderful that you remember that much of it, and the grammar/spelling was 100% correct. My husband took some German while in Germany. He could go around and order food quite nicely. His brother took German in college and was later stationed in Germany as well. He really amazes me with how much he still remembers. He cracks me up when he tries to joke in German. We are all now in our 40s, and I have to say I can't remember a thing when it comes to French. I used to be able to hold conversations. Now it is all gone, except the occasional word I remember. The Russian is all gone, but I only had it for one year in high school. German law requires that each child has to learn on language. That is usually English, Oxford English that is.

They start with it in 5th grade and you have it for 6 years. In 7th grade you have to take on another language, but you can later switch this to Science or something else. It depends on what the school offers. I had to switch school a lot, since my family died away one by one it seemed. I somewhere lost the English connection in between due to different books. My last school was really good and the English teacher was American, still teaching Oxford English. He focused on comprehension rather then grammar and I caught up again. I've earned a degree in engineering and ended up working for the US Army in Berlin. That's where I've met my husband. I didn't even want to marry an American, but things have their own way. Now we are married for over 24 years. So we were meant for each other.

 

[duck walk]

My apologies for being testy this a.m....it is 900 degrees in the heat and I have been out in it and I felt pretty punky when I came in...and English is a very difficult language so I appreciate your command of it as a second language...my grandaughter's mum is German and she is bi lingual...my other son's wife is Russian, who immigrated to Germany...her sons speak English/German/Russian...she herself speaks all of those and many dialects of the same...

Again, I apologize for being crabby...I had my Gatorade, have cooled down, and am feeling much better...

 

[katharinad]

No need to apologize any further. Really, we all can get things wrong or put things out wrong. I'm glad we all cleared it all up. We had a long cold spring with even frost last week with temps in the 50's. Now we are hitting for the mid 80' and we are cooking. It's like someone hit the switch and we never had time to get adjusted. It can hit the 100's here, but it is a dry climate so it will always cool at night. Today we will put the window ACs in. Just to cut the peak temps and cool the house a little. Gotta clean the koi pond today. Nothing better then standing in ice cold well water and cooking your brain.

I will be also working on the duck decks for the kiddie pools. And we slave some more for the spoiled little poopers.