Recreating Abacot Ranger Ducks?

[Beah10]

Okay, recreate may be the wrong word. I'm looking to get the coloring of the Abacot females, possibly using Welsh Harlequins mixed with another breed? I live in the USA and haven't found any Abacot Rangers available but I love their look.

Is there a way to recreate this breed with Welsh Harlequin ducks? My understanding is they are very similar, the males of the breed are almost indistinguishable from each other. The females however are pretty different. Abacot Rangers have a solid hood and are brown not silver, whereas Welshies normally have a light hood or no hood at all and come in both brown and silver. I'll attach a photo of an Abacot female.

Any advice on how to 'recreate' them would be wonderful! Or if you know of a breeder in the US, please let me know!

 

[MGG]

Okay, recreate may be the wrong word. I'm looking to get the coloring of the Abacot females, possibly using Welsh Harlequins mixed with another breed? I live in the USA and haven't found any Abacot Rangers available but I love their look.

Is there a way to recreate this breed with Welsh Harlequin ducks? My understanding is they are very similar, the males of the breed are almost indistinguishable from each other. The females however are pretty different. Abacot Rangers have a solid hood and are brown not silver, whereas Welshies normally have a light hood or no hood at all and come in both brown and silver. I'll attach a photo of an Abacot female.

Any advice on how to 'recreate' them would be wonderful! Or if you know of a breeder in the US, please let me know!

I found this breeder, not sure if they're still breeding them or not but it might be worth calling!
https://hobbyfarmwisdom.com/abacot-ranger-ducks-for-sale-in-all-states/

 

[JedJackson]

Probably khaki campbell crossed with Welsh harlequin would be the way to go. But it would probably take raising a great many ducklings and constant selection to get that kind of coloring, so it would be a lot of work.

 

[Beah10]

I found this breeder, not sure if they're still breeding them or not but it might be worth calling!
https://hobbyfarmwisdom.com/abacot-ranger-ducks-for-sale-in-all-states/

Thank you, I will give them a call.

Probably khaki campbell crossed with Welsh harlequin would be the way to go. But it would probably take raising a great many ducklings and constant selection to get that kind of coloring, so it would be a lot of work.

I thought it could be a fun project. Should I start with a khaki male x Welsh female? Should I use a brown phase female or silver?

 

[JedJackson]

Thank you, I will give them a call.

I thought it could be a fun project. Should I start with a khaki male x Welsh female? Should I use a brown phase female or silver?

I would do some research on color genetics. From what I've seen, Abacot rangers look pretty much like silver phase Welsh harlequins but with a dark golden head. Which would be a tricky thing to breed for. I think I'd try both ways, if possible, but if you can only do one, then male KC and female WH.

Apparently these ducks originated by crossing white sports of KCs with white runner ducks. So I'm wondering if crossing white campbell ducks with white runner ducks would give similar results. I just don't know, but that might be something to think about.

 

[Beah10]

Okay thank you.

Does anyone know what the color genetics are of abacots?

 

[ruthhope]

https://poultrykeeper.com/duck-breeds/abacot-ranger-ducks/

Created in Colchester in Essex UK, from 1917 to 1922 by Oscar Gray of the Abacot Duck Ranch. He used sports from Khaki Campbells and a White Indian Runner Drake to create the breed.

 

[Beah10]

From all the reading I have found, the Abacot is genetically a harlequin phase dusky mallard, md/md, lih/lih. This is the extent I was able to find for the Abacot specifically. So far, compared to the golden phase welshies, they are the same.