Waterfowl Projects

[toadbriar]

OK, let me try this:

Gosh that's splendid! It must be quite a striking effect on a self-colored bird, fault or not.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Color in Sebastopols is an on going very long project. Enjoying working with gray, lilac, buff so far. Will see what this year brings us for 2013.

 

[Sweetfolly]

Genetically, there aren't as many colors and patterns to play with in waterfowl as there are in chickens, which I think is why you don't hear of as many "color projects". I loooove playing with color and difficult patterns - I'm working on Magpie Calls in the usual Black & Blue, but also in Chocolate and Lilac. I'm also working on Magpie Dutch Hookbills - it started with an accidental crossbred duckling last spring, and I love the Magpie pattern so much I kind of became obsessed with it, so I have my F2 generation ducklings hatching in a couple of weeks.

 

[Oregon Blues]

CelticOaksFarm is right: there are people working on introducing new colors to Sebastopols.

I know of people working on colors in Calls. Mostly the rare pastel colors. So there are some projects in waterfowl. Although the Calls are all purebreds, no other breed introduced.

From my point of view, it is a huge challenge to simply try to maintain the quality in the existing breeds. There are so few serious breeders maintaining quality purebreds that it is a project all by itself to keep some of the breeds from degenerating in quality or sliding into oblivion.

The hatcheries flood the market with poor quality birds, often not even purebreds. Too many people think that if a bird is colored like a breed that makes that bird a purebred of that breed and worthy of being added to the gene pool.

An example; it is very easy to end up with a saddleback marked goose. All geese have the potential to produce a saddleback marked offspring. But just because a goose is saddleback, does not mean it is a Pomeranian.

Yet, I see "Pomeranians" that are clearly no more than saddleback marked geese and not any Pomeranian breeding in them at all being used as Pomeranian breeding stock. Hey, it's a saddleback, so that means it is a Pomeranian, right?

I see the same with the Swedish ducks. You can get bibs from crosses that have no Swedish in them at all. But put a bib on a solid color duck and all of a sudden it is called "Swedish" and gets put into someone's breeding program.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Yep, like OB has stated. The Toulouse goose is at risk because people think it is ok to cross hatchery (production) birds with Dewlap. It is even harder to convince hobbiest to NOT breed all dewlap Toulouse or Sebastopols just because of what they are. Not every bird meets the standard and they should be kept as pets not bred.

We sold a number of goslings this spring that at their age didn't "appear" to have the needed round heads to make them worth keeping to breed. Pets of a breed is fine, but To add to the junk being sold out there by breeding pet to pet is just not right. Have them as pets, enjoy them, but sell hatching eggs or hatchlings from them.

If you want breeding stock pay the money and buy adult breeding stock.

 

[StevenW.]

Why start a new breed/project when you can help preserve breeds that are in need of preservation? Almost all waterfowl that represent the actual breed itself are very scarce and making new breeds would just hurt the already dieing out breeds.

 

[kswaterfowl]

We are working on blue trout Indian Runner ducks, but at the same time trying to improve our trouts. The blue trout is an afterthought, but we would like them, but we won't keep any bird that doesn't fit its breed standard simply because it is a particular color. You build the barn before you paint it. I think it is more important to constantly try to improve and get the breeds we have more and more standard-fitting with each generation. We have been doing this for more than the past decade, and realized early on that if you don't have nice type, you don't have nice birds, no matter what variety they are. Our flock includes Welsh Harlequins, Trout Indian Runners, Pekins, Snowy Mallards & Black East Indies, and honestly, other than trying to improve the type in those breeds and varieties, we don't plan to work on any other projects any time, save for the blue in the trouts.
K&S

 

[Senna95]

KSwaterfowl: I too am working on the blue-trouts (and saxonies). I have a nice, but small breeding group right now. One (group) of blue-trout / saxony, and then one group of trout only. I will be mixing the best of the babies from these unrelated groups next spring, and hope to have some beauties next year.

Here's a photo of the blue-trouts and saxonies (ignore the time/date stamp, photo was taken this spring):

 

[duckyfromoz]

Oh my goodness, duckyfrom oz. That is awful. It causes so much difficulty when standards are changed.

I took a quick peek and it doesn't look like cinnamon is a recognized color in the USA.

From previous discussions on here- the birds that are classed as " cinnamon " over there are also very different to what we have here. But it is my understanding too that you dont have Cinnamon in your standards. I found it interesting that such a rare breed was altered in this edition. With so few seen at exhibitions and shows- most judges would never have come across them.

Quote: Steven- If people had this attitude 100- 150 years ago- we wouldnt have the colours and breeds we have today, While preservation of the current breeds is important, developing new colours also has its place. Here in Australia the Aylesbury is a breed that is extremely rare- and although my daughter does have one ( Monty ) Continuing to breed them is a choice we have decided against as we know that a large percentage of the offspring we could breed would go to the table rather than to future breeding projects by other breeders. We all make our own decisions on why we breed what, some people like that challenge of breeding something that they cannot just go out and buy.

 

[Senna95]

Not terribly groundbreaking, but I'm thinking of developing blue-fawn in my Ancona flock. It came up naturally and I think it's pretty. Apricot wouldn't be far behind I guess. Anyhow I've got a few months to study up on whether I want to do that, or not.

Apart from that I'm trying to select for a bit more substance in my birds, make them a bit more appealing as dual-purpose.

Blue-fawn anconas? What would those look like? Do you have a photo?