 Duck in Görlitz Zoo, Görlitz, Saxony | |
| Other names | German: Sachsenente |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Germany |
| Use | eggs, meat, fancy |
| Traits | |
| Weight | |
| Egg color | white [1] : 16 |
| Classification | |
| APA | heavy duck [2] |
| EE | yes [3] |
| PCGB | heavy [4] |
| |
The Saxony (German : Sachsenente) is a German breed of domestic duck. It was bred in Saxony in the 1930s, but because of the Second World War was recognised only in 1957.
The Saxony was bred in the 1930s by Albert Franz of Chemnitz, in the Free State of Saxony, by cross-breeding of German Pekin with Blue Pomeranian and Rouen birds, and was first shown at Chemnitz-Altendorf in 1934. Almost all of the original stock was lost during World War II. After the War, Franz started breeding again from the remaining stock. [5] : 445
The Saxony was officially recognised in East Germany in 1957, and in West Germany in 1958. [5] : 445 Birds were taken to Switzerland in 1965 and to France in 1968. [6] : 1 The Saxony was recognised in the United Kingdom in 1982. [5] : 445 Some were imported to the United States by David Holderread in 1984; the Saxony was admitted to the Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association in 2000. [7] : 98
In 2013 the total number in Germany was 1173. [8] In North America, the breed is listed as "threatened" by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. [9]
The Saxony is a heavy duck: drakes weigh about 3.5 kg, ducks about 3.0 kg. It is muscular and close-feathered. Physically, the Saxony resembles the Silver Appleyard. The head is oval-shaped and is moderately large. The Saxony has a deep, full breast with plenty of width that is carried across the back of the bird and extends towards the tail. The abdomen is broad and full, free of keel development as seen in exhibition-type Rouen ducks. [10] The body is held at about 25° to the horizontal. [7] : 98
The Saxony has only one colour variety, buff-blue mallard: [lower-alpha 1] the drake has a greyish-blue head, white neck-ring, and rust- or chestnut-coloured breast feathers; the duck is a rich, light buff colour with two white stripes on each side of the face, one over the eye and the other from the eye towards the beak. [10] Both drakes and ducks have a yellowish bill and orange legs and feet, although the standard specifies dark yellow. [6] : 5
The Saxony forages well [7] : 97 and is straightforward to rear. [6] : 5
The Saxony is a dual-purpose breed, reared both for its eggs and for the table. Ducks lay approximately 80 [1] : 16 or 100 [6] : 5 eggs per year. The eggs are white and weigh some 80 g. [6] : 5
The Orpington is a British breed of chicken. It was bred in the late nineteenth century by William Cook of Orpington, at that time in Kent in south-east England. It was intended to be a dual-purpose breed, to be reared both for eggs and for meat, but soon became exclusively a show bird. The Australorp of Australia derives from it.
The Cochin is a breed of large domestic chicken. It derives from large feather-legged chickens brought from China to Europe and North America in the 1840s and 1850s. It is reared principally for exhibition. It was formerly known as Cochin-China.
Indian Runners are a breed of Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, the domestic duck. They stand erect like penguins and, rather than waddling, they run. The females can lay as many as 300 to 350 eggs a year. They were bred on the Indonesian islands of Lombok, Java and Bali. These ducks do not fly and only rarely form nests and incubate their own eggs. They run or walk, often dropping their eggs wherever they happen to be. The breed arrived in the Western world in the 19th century; they have since been bred to have a wide variety of colours.
The Campbell is a British breed of domestic duck. It was developed at Uley, in Gloucestershire, England, at the turn of the 20th century; being introduced to the public in 1898 and the Khaki variety in 1901.
The Cayuga is an American breed of domestic duck. It was introduced to the Finger Lakes region of New York State in about 1840, and is named for the Cayuga people of that area. Until the last years of the nineteenth century it was the principal duck reared for meat in the United States. In the twenty-first century it is kept mainly for ornament. The plumage is black with iridescent beetle-green lights.
The Swedish Blue or Blue Swedish is a Swedish breed of domestic duck. It originated in the former dominion of Swedish Pomerania – now in north-west Poland and north-east Germany – and is documented there from 1835. It is closely similar to the Pomeranian Duck from the same general area, differing mainly in its white primary feathers.
The Rouen is a heavyweight breed of domesticated duck. Rouens are raised primarily for meat, exhibition, or as general purpose ducks. Since they are not prolific egg layers, Rouen ducks are most commonly bred for their meat. The breed originated in France sometime before the 19th century.
The Crested is a breed of domestic duck, characterised by a crest or tuft of feathers on the head. Ducks of this kind were probably brought from the East Indies to Europe by Dutch ships. The duck may be of any colour; the crest results from the action of an autosomal dominant gene and varies widely in size, from imperceptibly small to a diameter of approximately 13 cm.
The Orpington or Buff Orpington Duck is a breed of domestic duck. It is a dual-purpose breed used for meat and egg production. It is capable of laying up to 220 eggs a year. Originally created by William Cook of Orpington, Kent, England, from the selection of mis-marked Blue Orpington Ducks; Cook was also the developer of the Orpington chicken. The breeds used in the development of the breed included Cayuga, Indian Runner, commercial Aylesbury and Rouen. It is proposed that Cook's intentions for the breed were to capitalize on the growing demand for the buff colour pattern. The Buff Orpington Duck was introduced to the public at the Dairy Show, the Agricultural Hall (q.v.), Islington, London in October 1897. It is considered a threatened breed by the ALBC. This breed was admitted to the British Poultry Standard in 1910 and the American Poultry Associations Standard of Perfection as the 'Buff Duck' in the Medium class in 1914. The Orpington duck is available in three colour varieties: Buff, Blond and Brown. The Buff Orpington is an unstable colour due to a blue dilution gene which means that from the offspring, all three colour variations will appear.
The American Buff is an American breed of domestic goose. It was accepted by the American Poultry Association in 1947. It is named for its single plumage variety, which is a pale buff or apricot-fawn in color.
The Bourbon Red is an American breed of domestic turkey. It is named for its reddish-brown plumage and for its area of origin, Bourbon County, Kentucky, where it was developed in the last years of the nineteenth century. It was accepted into the Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association in 1909, and in the early twentieth century was an important commercial meat breed until the Broad Breasted White began to dominate industrial production. The Bourbon Red is considered a heritage turkey; it is an endangered breed, classified as 'watch' by the Livestock Conservancy. It was formerly known as the Bourbon Butternut or as the Kentucky Red.
The Magpie is a British breed of domestic duck. It has distinctive black and white markings reminiscent of the European magpie, and is a good layer of large eggs.
The Buckeye is an American breed of chicken. It was created in Ohio in the late nineteenth century by Nettie Metcalf. The color of its plumage was intended to resemble the color of the seeds of Aesculus glabra, the Ohio Buckeye plant for which the state is called the 'Buckeye State'.
The Nankin Bantam or Nankin is a British bantam breed of chicken. It is a true bantam, a naturally small breed with no large counterpart from which it was miniaturised. It is of South-east Asian origin, and is among the oldest bantam breeds. It is a yellowish buff colour, and the name is thought to derive from the colour of nankeen cotton from China.
The Silver Appleyard is a British breed of domestic duck. It was bred in the first half of the twentieth century by Reginald Appleyard, with the aim of creating a dual-purpose breed that would provide both a good quantity of meat and plenty of eggs.
The Pomeranian goose, also known as the Rügener goose, is a breed of domestic goose.
The Hook Bill or Dutch Hookbill is a breed of domestic duck characterised by an unusual down-curved beak. It is an ancient breed, and has been documented since the seventeenth century. Speculation that it originated in Asia, or is related to the Indian Runner, is apparently unsubstantiated.
The Welsh Harlequin is a breed of domestic duck originating in Wales. In 1949, in Criccieth, Group Captain Leslie Bonnet discovered a colour mutation among his flock of Khaki Campbells and began selective breeding for the trait. By 1968, hatching eggs were exported to the United States, followed by the importation of live birds in 1981.
The Golden Cascade is a breed of domestic duck developed in the United States. In 1979, David Holderread of Corvallis, Oregon set out to breed a duck that was fast growing, active, laid eggs well, and was auto-sexing. By the mid-1980s, the Golden Cascade was introduced to the market. It is not yet admitted to the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection.
The Muscovy or Barbary is the domesticated form of the wild Muscovy duck, Cairina moschata. There are a number of local or regional breeds, and drakes of these are commonly cross-bred with domestic ducks to produce the hybrids called mulards.