Our Current Duck Breeds

Hybrid 300

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In 1996 Metzer Farms developed the Golden 300 Hybrid as they lay more and larger eggs, have a higher fertility and are calmer than the Khaki Campbell. Developing the Golden 300 Hybrid by crossing and utilizing the attributes of different duck breeds.

The Golden 300 Hybrid can be sexed at any age by its color as the males are shades of black and the females are shades of brown. Unfortunately, they do not retain this characteristic in future generations. So if you mate a Golden 300 Hybrid with another Golden 300 Hybrid, their progeny will hatch in blacks, yellows and browns with no relationship between sex and color.

As adults the females range in color from a very light brown to a very dark brown, often with areas of white on them. Males can appear much like a Rouen, or a dull looking Cayuga or with white and dark markings.

Khaki Campbell

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The Khaki Campbell is one of the more famous and popular duck breeds due to its excellent egg production. It was introduced in 1901 by Mrs. Adele Campbell of Gloucestershire, England. She experimented with Runners crossed with Rouen and Mallards but never revealed the exact genetic makeup of her Campbells. The advantage over the pure Runner was a more useful carcass for meat and improved egg production. Though they have been turned into an exhibition type breed, she was adamant that her birds were designed for production, not the exhibition hall.

Cayuga

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The Cayuga breed is thought to have been developed from the wild Black Duck breed in the region of Lake Cayuga in New York. This makes it one of the few duck breeds originating in the United States. Prior to the arrival of the Pekin breed, they were the bird of choice for meat production in the Northeast. Once the Pekin arrived with its white feathers and cleaner appearing carcass, the Cayuga quickly lost its appeal. They remain a very hardy duck and many of their eggs have varying degrees of gray in the shell color. On rare occasions they will lay a pure black egg.

Descriptions and photos from: https://www.metzerfarms.com

Silver Appleyard Duck

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The Silver Appleyard was bred in the 1930s at Priory Waterfowl Farm near Ixworth, in Suffolk, by Reginald Appleyard, an expert poultry breeder who also created the Ixworth breed of chicken. His aim in creating the breed is described in a leaflet he put out after the end of the Second World War: to create white-skinned duck with a wide, deep breast, which would also be beautiful to look at and would lay abundant white eggs. By the time the pamphlet was issued, his birds had won prizes at the Dairy Show in London and at Bethnal Green. In 1947 a pair of Silver Appleyards was painted by the animal painter Ernest George Wippell. Appleyard worked on the development and stabilisation of the breed until his death in 1964, but never produced a standard. When the Silver Appleyard standard was drawn up in 1982, it was based on Wippell's painting.
 
Some birds were taken to the United States in the 1960s. The breed was added to the Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association in 2000. It is listed as "threatened" by the Livestock Conservancy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Appleyard#cite_note-chris-10