SWEDISH Duck Thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ducks and Banny hens]

Quote:
Why wouldn't you consider her a Swede?

 

[70%cocoa]

Because Swedish are not meant to have any brown feathers. It's usually listed in the Standard as a significant fault for this breed.

Doesn't mean she's not a beautiful, healthy duck.

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

70%cocoa :

Because Swedish are not meant to have any brown feathers. It's usually listed in the Standard as a significant fault for this breed.

Doesn't mean she's not a beautiful, healthy duck.

So that means, even if her ancestors are all swedes, she isn't because she carries a genetic peculiarity? Somehow that doesn't make sense to me...​

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

It just sounds like that point is based on showing, not fundamental purposes.

 

[70%cocoa]

Breed standards are a benchmark for a bird's appearance. They are important in directing breeding efforts as well as showing. If a bird doesn't look like the breed standard, it's less true of the breed than a bird that looks more like the breed standards. But it is hard with a bird to say that definitively it is or is not X, as there is no register of individual birds (as there is with dogs etc). A bird that was a long way from the breed standard or that was from parents that were nothing like the standard would not be described as an example of the breed. But a bird that is one fault away from the standard? That's a matter of judgement.

Genetically, Swedish should not have any brown dilution of any kind. My first ducks were bought from a hatch from apparently pure bred Swedish. They both turned out chocolate brown all over. They are genetically black females with a dose of brown dilution. Would I call them Swedish? Definitely not. My next lot of birds were bought from much better lines and show no brown. But I know that two are carrying recessive white. Swedish should not have that either (but I suspect that all lines have it here). Does that make them not Swedish either? A hard core purist would say so.

For showing, only the appearance of the bird matters. Doesn't matter what it's hiding or if it's a shocking layer or infertile - what matters is what the judge sees. For breeding, the genetic makeup matters equally. You want to eliminate unwanted genes so you know, in good faith, that you are making the breed as good as it can be. That's my view anyway

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

70%cocoa :

Genetically, Swedish should not have any brown dilution of any kind. My first ducks were bought from a hatch from apparently pure bred Swedish. They both turned out chocolate brown all over. They are genetically black females with a dose of brown dilution. Would I call them Swedish? Definitely not.

The SPPA recognises Chocolate Swedish.​

 

[70%cocoa]

I'm in Australia, and chocolate isn't a recognised colour here in any large breed. Bit of a shame. It's a lovely colour. Only blue is recognised.

It's good that the SPPA recognises other colours, but the American Poultry Association determine the standards. Perhaps in future they will recognise colours other than blue. Black and silver would be a good start.

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

Anf I'm in Canada. Up here, we don't often use the SOP. You see, we see it as sort of a rulebook for a game: Showing. I know it's taken very seriously down in the States, but not up here. We know that the quality of esthetics is more relative to how the birds are raised, rather than how they conform to a picture in a book. We generally have an idea of what a breed should look like, and prefer to put focus on utility and vitality, rather than a pathetic amount of shallow esthetics. The Americans laugh at us because we don't use the SOP. We laugh at them because their birds are inbred and lack utility. (Not meant to insult anyone)

 

[70%cocoa]

Ah, I didn't realize you were in Canada. Yes, it's up to each country to determine what it values. There's quite a debate here about breeding to the standard versus utility (as with any species I guess). But the standards are taken pretty seriously here all the same.

Utility is very important, as is the health and robustness of the individual birds and breed as a whole. No point in a good looking bird if it doesn't lay and doesnt produce strong offspring.

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

Quote:
The 'Rouen crossed with a swede', is another Rust Swede! A male this time.