Do you agree that the Muscovy duck is the ugliest duck breed?

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BelovedBirds said:
on a serious note, how do hookbills do health wise? Animals bred for unnatural features tend to have health issues--is that the case or are they pretty hardy?
Do they manage to eat/function normally?
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Hookbills are actually an ancient breed and thought to be one of the earliest out there. I have had Hookbills for years and my Hookbills forage better and more often than my other breeds, I have had zero health issues besides an occasional bumblefoot and their bills have not affected them whatsoever. After years of breeding them and speaking to European breeders we have never noted the bill issues with eating or breeding that seem to be myths spread around in the US. For example, in the US it's not uncommon to hear that if you breed a very hooked bill duck to another very hooked bill duck, the duckling will have trouble hatching. I find it an odd that this rumor even started considering all Hookbill ducklings hatch with the same size and shaped bill as any other duckling and slowly start to develop the hooked bill only after they hatch. Here below you can see a pair of Hookbill ducklings I hatched pictured at couple days old in the top picture and a couple months old in the bottom picture. Again from my observations and from the observations of European breeders I have spoken to Hookbills are very hardy and the only health issues you will run into with Hookbills are due to excessive inbreeding found in the US which often can cause the hatching issues we see. The inbreeding started originally to save the breed in the 80s, but often continues because they are hard to source. My flock was sourced from multiple other flocks and I keep a chart of who was bred to who down the line to avoid inbreeding as much as possible within my own flock.
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HollowOfWisps said:
Hookbills are actually an ancient breed and thought to be one of the earliest out there. I have had Hookbills for years and my Hookbills forage better and more often than my other breeds, I have had zero health issues besides an occasional bumblefoot and their bills have not affected them whatsoever. After years of breeding them and speaking to European breeders we have never noted the bill issues with eating or breeding that seem to be myths spread around in the US. For example, in the US it's not uncommon to hear that if you breed a very hooked bill duck to another very hooked bill duck, the duckling will have trouble hatching. I find it an odd that this rumor even started considering all Hookbill ducklings hatch with the same size and shaped bill as any other duckling and slowly start to develop the hooked bill only after they hatch. Here below you can see a pair of Hookbill ducklings I hatched pictured at couple days old in the top picture and a couple months old in the bottom picture. Again from my observations and from the observations of European breeders I have spoken to Hookbills are very hardy and the only health issues you will run into with Hookbills are due to excessive inbreeding found in the US which often can cause the hatching issues we see. The inbreeding started originally to save the breed in the 80s, but often continues because they are hard to source. My flock was sourced from multiple other flocks and I keep a chart of who was bred to who down the line to avoid inbreeding as much as possible within my own flock.
View attachment 3307551
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That's an interesting breed of duck! I didn't know Hookbills were a breed until now.
 
HollowOfWisps said:
Hookbills are actually an ancient breed and thought to be one of the earliest out there. I have had Hookbills for years and my Hookbills forage better and more often than my other breeds, I have had zero health issues besides an occasional bumblefoot and their bills have not affected them whatsoever. After years of breeding them and speaking to European breeders we have never noted the bill issues with eating or breeding that seem to be myths spread around in the US. For example, in the US it's not uncommon to hear that if you breed a very hooked bill duck to another very hooked bill duck, the duckling will have trouble hatching. I find it an odd that this rumor even started considering all Hookbill ducklings hatch with the same size and shaped bill as any other duckling and slowly start to develop the hooked bill only after they hatch. Here below you can see a pair of Hookbill ducklings I hatched pictured at couple days old in the top picture and a couple months old in the bottom picture. Again from my observations and from the observations of European breeders I have spoken to Hookbills are very hardy and the only health issues you will run into with Hookbills are due to excessive inbreeding found in the US which often can cause the hatching issues we see. The inbreeding started originally to save the breed in the 80s, but often continues because they are hard to source. My flock was sourced from multiple other flocks and I keep a chart of who was bred to who down the line to avoid inbreeding as much as possible within my own flock.
View attachment 3307551
Click to expand...
Really interesting information, thank you for replying!
I just realised how strange it would be to see a duckling with a very hooked bill. What you say makes sense!
 

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