What Breed is this Duck?

[Bleenie]

I used to have a batch of these duckies. I got them as a "pity buy" from the local auction a few years ago as ducklings & raised them to almost laying age before I sold them. They were so lovely & fairly quiet too!

middle

Mallard-looking on in the middle-left was a crossbreed from a different batch.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Looks like a saxony cross duck to me. Saxony should have a yellow/ orange bill - so thats why I say a cross.

 

[duck&chickencrazy]

yep i agree looks like saxony to me to

 

[CityChicker]

It looks like a Golden Cascade. They are very similar to a Saxony, but with the sex-linked bill color like a Welsh Harlequin, so the bill on the hens is dark. They are really beautiful ducks. I think even more beautiful than Saxonies, although I love them as well. Not very many people still have them. I think Sandhill is one of the few places still breeding them. Your bird in the closer picture looks like it might have something else going on as well that makes it differ from a Saxony, so it may also have the brown dilution (just guessing). Its' plumage does have a little more of that muted cast.

Interestingly, around that time period when the GC were developed, some people (Holderread) was using wild-type plus Bl/Bl, li/li, d/- as the Saxony genotype rather than the currently accepted genotype without the sex-linked brown dilution, so that may indeed be present if your bird is GC and they were developed in part by Saxonies or Gold WH. I don't know as I simply have never asked, but I do know that Holderreads stopped breeding the GC because they felt they were too similar to Saxonies. If they were the exact or almost exact genotype, I can see why. Anyway, sorry to ramble. Beautiful bird!

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/GoldCas/BRKGoldCas.html

 

[priss]

They are beautiful whatever they are, such gorgeous colours. Can't believe nobody wanted them at the auction. Sometimes the world has got it all wrong. Antiques go for a fortune, ducks go for a song. Which one makes you happy? An old teapot or the love of a fuzzybutt duck? I know which I would rather have.
xxxx

 

[CityChicker]

Hey! Don't go knocking old teapots! LOL. I always loved teapots, especially in my favorite color/pattern, "Sophie" chintz. Not to mention, ducks don't have the stigma of going through life being referred to as "chintz". Please be kind to the much maligned old teapot! LOL! Sorry, random thoughts by a crazy woman at 4:00 am. Back to the discussion at hand...

 

[katharinad]

That is interesting, because Holderread was still selling them last year. It's a shame if it disappears. They are very close in the looks to Saxonies. Saxonies once disappeared completely due to WWI and had to be recreated.

 

[CityChicker]

Holderreads haven't sold Golden Cascades for many, many years.

 

[katharinad]

I'm pretty sure I saw them on their site, because I was playing with the idea of getting some.

 

[CityChicker]

You probably saw them on the list of their breed literature. They still sell that, but the actual birds they haven't had for a long time.