Guide to Duck Breeds

This breed guide focuses on the basic information, as well as information you would want to know when choosing which breed to pick as an indoor pet. Any help would be appreciated filling out these forms. If you would like to add anything to the existing profiles or would like to fill out a profile for a breed that is not listed we welcome you to do so! Thanks! E-mail: aquapuppy@yahoo.com
Special thanks to 4 Kids Poultry for contributing their time and knowledge to the PDA's Breed Guide. Without 4 Kids Poultry this Breed Guide would not be possible - THANKS!

Breeds

Blue and Black Swedish
Cayuga
Crested Swedish (Crested White & Crested Blue)
Khaki Campbell
Mallard
Rouen (AKA Domesticated Mallard)
Saxony
White and Fawn Runner
White Pekin
Moscovy

Breed Name: Blue and Black Swedish
Size: Drakes weigh up to 8-9 pounds and the hens weigh up to 7-8 pounds.
Description: Blue Swedish is a beautiful blue-gray color with a white bib from under the bill halfway down their breasts and 2 white primaries Black Swedish is like the Blue Swedish except the color is black and they also have the white bibs and primaries like the blue.
Egg Producation:Both breeds lay quite well, mostly white eggs with an occasional blue or gray tint.
Temperment: Both breeds of Swedish are fairly even temper, but the female is a little jumpy.
Noise Level: Both breeds are some of the noisest we have in our stock. The male has a low pitch tone but can raise the loudness of their quack just like the females, and the female is a loud yelling type quack. Ours can be heard over a block away from their pens.
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Breed Name: Cayuga
Size: Hens weigh 5-6 pounds and drakes weigh 6-8 pounds
Description: Attractive greeny-black plumage with black bills and black feet. This breed started and got it's name from "Lake Cayuga, New York" One of only a few breeds that come from the United States This breed is usually used for exhibition.
Egg Producation:Fairly good layers, their eggs vary in color from a off cream to dark sooty green, or a pale blue to a grayish light blackish color.
Temperment: Both the drake and the hen have good temperment.
Noise Level: Both the drakes and the hens are known as a quiet breed.
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Breed Name: Crested Swedish (Crested White or Crested Blue)
Size: Hens weigh between 6-8 pounds and drakes weigh between 7-9 pounds.
Description:These are unique and unusual looking ducks. Crested Swedish comes in several colors with the most popular color breeds being the "Crested Blue Swedish" and the stunning "Crested White Swedish" The Crested Blue Swedish has the same color markings as the Blue Swedish, and the Crested White looks simular to the White Pekin except for a distinctive top knot on their heads (blue crests on the Crested Blue and white on the Crested White). These ducks are also used for exhibition and about the only major problem with them is, it is difficult to breed them with perfect crests (mainly on the Crested White Swedish). This breed of duck is a fairly fast grower.
Egg Producation:These ducks are rather well layers.
Temperment: They are good natured ducks and the hens not broody.
much noise at all, the hens will once in a while let out a louder then usuall Noise Level:These are pretty quiet ducks, with the drakes not making quack when she wants you to notice her for something.
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Breed Name:Khaki Campbell
Size:The drakes and the hens both weigh about the same in the 4-4 1/2 pound area and are rather small and slender like the Runner Ducks which are smaller then other types of ducks.
Description: The hen is a medium to seal brown in color and the drake is about the same color except with a darker brown on and around it's head and neck. These ducks have a vertical posture like the runner ducks or nicknamed as "Penquin Ducks"
Egg Producation: One of the best layers of all the ducks with egg production of 300 eggs or more per year for each hen.
Temperment: Khaki's are very even tempered and are excellent foragers in the yard.
Noise Level: Also a fairly quiet duck most of the time, except at times the hens will get loud.
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Breed Name: Mallard
NOTE: Wild Mallards are concidered as a Migratory Bird and if you obatin your Mallard duck from the wild and not from a hatchery or private owner who has this permit to breed mallards in captivity, you must have a Federal Wildlife License called a (Migratory Bird Permit) issured by the Department Of The Interior - U. S. Fish And Wildlife Service in some cases. Under the Code Of Federal Regulations (50 CFR 21)
Size: Small in size
Description: Beautiful ducks, the hens are brown and black, but the drake is the most brightly colored with the beautiful green head and neck.
Egg Producation: They are pretty good layers with a blue-greenish eggs.
Temperment: Mallards are outdoor ducks, they are wild and can only be tamed down some, but not very much.
Noise Level: Make a lot of noise
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Breed Name:Rouen (AKA Domesticated Mallard)
Size: Large size duck, hens weighs around 6-8 pounds. Drakes weigh around 8-10 pounds.
Description:An old French breed, simular to Mallards in color only larger, they are know as Domesticated Mallards. The Hens are brown with greenish black and lighter brown mixed in. The drakes have the beautiful green heads and necks with a brown and purplish chest, and lighter gray on their backs and upper body. These ducks are slow to develop and lazy.
Egg Producation: Slow layers and lazy
Temperment:Good temperment, less wild then mallards, gets fat and lazy.
Noise Level: Rather a quiet duck, not much noise.
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Breed Name:Saxony
Size:Hens weigh around 5-7 pounds and drakes weigh around 6-10 pounds.
Description: An active and heavy bird from Germany, simular to the Buff Duck, with attractive markings of darker brown or gray on the drakes head and neck.
Egg Producation: Fair layers of creamish color eggs.
Temperment: Saxony's are not broody, but the hens are jumpy
Noise Level:Saxony's are one of the 5 most noisest breeds there is, and it doesn't take much to get them started.
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Breed Name:White and Fawn Runner
Size:They are long slender ducks weighing around 4-5 pounds for both the hens and the drakes.
Description: These ducks are alos known as "Bali Penguin" or "Penquin Ducks" or "Bottle Necks". These ducks have slender-long bodies and like the Khaki Campbell they stand in an vertical postion, and run with quick straight steps instead of waddling like other ducks. Like the Khaki's they are good foragers.
Egg Producation: Runners are good layers, with their eggs being large for their size of bird. Their eggs are extra large and white in color.
Temperment: These birds are pretty good in nature, but are rather jumpy at times and at other times the female may get bold and come up and fuss at you if there's something she doesn't like.
Noise Level: These in no other way are the most noisest bird alive. Number 1 in making noise, takes very little to get them started and once they start, they will not hush untill THEY are ready which may be in minutes or an hour or more.
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Breed Name: White Pekin
Size: The fastest grower and one of the largest size ducks. The hens weigh around 8-10 pounds and the drakes weigh around 10-12 pounds.
Description:This breed is the number 1 choice of American Duck growers, due to their outstanding speed in growth , size, meat quality and egg laying. These ducks are mature in 10-12 weeks. Pekin Ducks form the basis of all commercial meat ducks. Both Hens and Drakes are a white creamish color with a yellow bill, feet and box shaped head. They also have a slight tinge of yellow in their plumage. They are also one of the easiest to train. Our mascot "Donald" has been trained to walk on a leash like a dog, and will follow us around the yard like a puppy, as well as come up and talk to us.
Egg Producation:Good egg layer, laying every day to every other day, large white eggs.
Temperment: Good temperment, loves to swim in the pool with our kids, easy to train and loves to walk on a leash like a dog talking all the way.
Noise Level: Here's the only drawback, When "Aflac" chose this breed to be their spokesmen or mascot, they chose the right one with the big mouth and voice. This breed is the second loudest next to the White & Fawn Runners with the big mouth. The hens love to talk and they do it proudly and loudly. The drakes have a normal low range quack, unless they want to really be heard, and they can cut loose like the hens.
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Breed Name:Muscovy
Size:Large size duck equal to the White Pekin in size.
Description: Sometimes known as the "Barbary Duck". They come in several colors, white, white and black, blue, chocolate and white. They are not classified as a domestic duck. These are really wildbirds but they have been domesticated on their own. They fly well, so they need to be wing-clipped or pinioned
Egg Producation: Excellent egg layers and sitters. Large size white color eggs with a harder shell then most duck eggs.
Temperment: Good temperment in general, but hens will get aggressive when sitting or have babies.
Noise Level:The most quiet of all ducks. Muscovy's don't quack, they have a low hiss, that sounds like a snake or steam, it's not very high pitched or loud and most of the times it can hardly be heard.
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