Discussion on Breeding up Hatchery Quality Birds.

[CelticOaksFarm]

I know white on that breeds a fault, which is why you don't see older. IRS at shows. However if you raised the bird from young and knew it started without the extra white then it would still be breeding stock worthy.

 

[Kevin565]

I was not aware of that. Thanks for the note!

 

[zooweemama]

To answer your question directly:

Color is a critical component to type in waterfowl, so you must worry about both.

A drake has much more influence because he will sire multiple hatchings from several different ducks. However, if you can get your hands on a super quality duck, you can manage your hatchings so her eggs are the ones you hatch for your next generation. A top quality duck is a real blessing to anyone who wants to produce top quality ducklings. However, I would purchase a quality drake to upgrade a pet flock, but would not purchase a quality duck and then breed her to a pet quality drake.

Automatic cull for me; Poor temperament. Any health issue. Even a hint of weak wing tendons (angel wing). Laying problems. Any deformity. The misfortune to be an excess male.

Add better bloodlines immediately. You can't start too soon. And cull, cull, cull.

Personal experience with breeding up waterfowl:

I have show quality Blue Swedish ducks., They are pretty decent, but could use some work. These are the best ducks I could find, so buying a better drake probably is not going to happen. The world is full of pet quality bib marked mutts and there are barely any show breeders of Swedish ducks. Stock simply does not exist. I will buy it if I find it, but so far, nothing.

I cull my birds and keep the best. I have forgiven some color faults. My birds are too narrow across the back, and my widest drake lacks the white wingtips. I want his broad back more than I want the white wingtips, so he stays and I hope he will broaden up my flock.

The rest of the birds all have their white wingtips, so I will hope there is no loss of that gene. I will cull to keep broader backed ducks with white wing tips.

It's a balancing act. If none of my birds had white wingtips except for one, who was too narrow in the body, I would keep him for his white wingtips and he would be used extensively white I got the correct wing color established. But again, I would be keeping the hatchlings with the broadest backs and also white wingtips.

Some faults are very difficult to get rid of. Mottled bibs is one of those in Swedish, so any bird with a mottled bib, or eye stripes, is out of the program. I can not afford to allow those genes to creep in. With those 2 issues, I don't have them and I don't care what great genes a bird has, I am not allowing those problems to get mixed into my gene pool.

I suggest that you do not concentrate on one trait at a time, but select the best over-all for each generation.

When breeding aggressively for SOP- how do you cull? Sell off excess as pets, euthanize (and how?)- thank you!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

we butcher, or if a female list for sale as an egg layer locally. if she doesnt sell she is off to freezer camp or put in an egg eating flock (if we have room at the time)

 

[flockman]

I am interested in Silver Appleyard ducks. I am planning to get some from Holderread. Would this be good quality stock to start with? I've always heard his stock is great.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Yes, we are going to add stock from there as well in 2013.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Oregon I have a question involving color. I know white on the plumage of a Black bird like a Cayuga is a big thing in the showing world. Would a Drake with any white on his plumage in breeds like that be a automatic cull for you? Is that something to hard to breed out?
'

I know that Cayuga ducks get increasingly white as they age, and it starts rather young. It's not like they get gray when they are senior citizens, they start with the white feathers at a young age. So, no, you could not cull for white feathers on Cayugas or you would have nothing left to breed.

The Cayuga breeders show young birds. Actually, most of us show young birds, anyway, so that isn't unusual behavior for a show breeder.

With my Swedish ducks, if I wanted to keep a black duck in my breeding flock, I would cull for white feathers out of the preferred locations. The SOP allows for a large amount of white on a Swedish duck, but I have my own ideas of where and how much. Too much white is something I breed away from. The black color on Swedish is not the same as the black color on Cayugas and so far, I have not seen any black Swedish ducks turning white..

For other breeds that are black, I don't have knowledge about whether or not they get white feathers and what the breeders do about white feathers. That is where you need to get acquainted with the show breeders and soak up some knowledge about their breeds.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Can they still be shown or will so many points be deducted it would be pointless to enter them?

This is why you need a Standard of Perfection if you want to raise and show quality birds. I don't show Cayugas, but I can open my SOP and I find:

Cayuga: Disqualifications: Conspicuous white in outer plumage.

And under plumage "greenish black throughout." So even small amounts of white feathering are going to be a serious fault.

For me with the Swedish, it is a non-issue, since I can't show any black Swedish.

 

[Oregon Blues]

When breeding aggressively for SOP- how do you cull? Sell off excess as pets, euthanize (and how?)- thank you!

"Cull" simply means to remove from the breeding flock. You can keep the ducks and not hatch their eggs. That is culling.

You can sell as pets (as long as the buyer understands it is pet quality). You can put them into your freezer, because roast duck is delicious.

One thing that I do is to limit my hatching. There is no reason to hatch 200 eggs when I want 2 replacement ducks. I don't want to have to figure out what to do with 198 excess hatchlings.

And, of course, there will be more promising ducklings than I want for myself and these can go out to show homes, or to people who enjoy quality purebred animals.

At my house, evaluating the carcass is part of selecting the best for my flock. So I only keep the very best and some get butchered and have their structure, skeleton, muscle size, and flavor evaluated. Presenting well on the table is part of the function of livestock, so I consider it when I am breeding.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I am interested in Silver Appleyard ducks. I am planning to get some from Holderread. Would this be good quality stock to start with? I've always heard his stock is great.

The top quality Appleyards from Holderread are excellent. That is a very good place to start, They are well worth the money.