Aylebury
My Aylesburies came from Brian Schulte of Minnesota. They are very large, many mature birds at the 12 pound weight. They are prolific layers of medium size duck eggs and are extremely fertile. This breed never caught on in the US, however they have an easy going demeanor are friendly and excellent meat ducks. I have a small flock of high quality birds that I am just beginning to exhibit. The pullet pictured was Best of Breed at the A.P.A. National Show at Ventura, California in October of 2008.
Pekin
Rouen
The Rouen Ducks I have came from Brian Schulte in Minnesota and Dick Horstman in Pennsylvania. Both lines had good size, type and color, however the Horstman birds were larger. They are beautiful to see walking across the grass in the fall when they are in full feather. They are prolific layers of medium to large eggs and surprisingly fertile for their size. The male pictured was Champion Heavy Duck at the October, 2007 Sea Side Feather Fanciers Show in Ventura , California.
This is my 2008 pen of Rouen Breeders. I hatched 90 ducklings and kept the best 7.
Chocolate Muscovy
The Chocolate Muscovy ducks I am breeding are from Brian Schulte with an infusion of Gary Rayl Black Muscovy. This cross improved evrything about the birds especially their increased size and caruncling. They are excellent layers of large eggs, set 2 - 3 clutches a year and will hatch about 30 young better then I can in an incubator and are in big demand as meat ducks.
The male pictured heads my 2009 breeding pen with 5 outstanding hens. He was Reserve Champion Heavy Duck at the 2008 American Poultry Association National Meet at Ventura , California.
Recently I attended the APA National Show at Shawnee, Oklahoma. In a class of 10, I exhibited 1 young males and 1 old male. My birds won 1-BV cockerel and 1-RV on the old male ( Different bird then is pictured.), I was VERY pleased.
White Crested
My White Crested Ducks are a blending of stock that I purchased from breeders in the North West, Mid West and North East. Over the past 15 years I have developed an outstanding strain of prolific birds that lay a medium size duck egg. The fertility is in the 95% range and the hatchability about the same. I generally hatch 200 - 300 Crested ducklings each year. I do this as the birds with poor crests can be culled the day they are born. Usually I keep 10% - 20% of the ducklings to grow out. The rest are sent to the feed stores. Crested ducks are a numbers game pure and simple. Some years I can raise 20 outstanding birds, some years 2. In the past 5 years my birds have been Champions at American Poultry Association National Meets in Stockton, California, as well as club shows and meets in Ventura, California and Tucson, Arizona.
Shown above is my 2008 breeding pen, about 30 birds.
Champion Medium Duck , Seaside Feather Fanciers October 2007
Champion Waterfowl Tucson, November 2007
Young Drake
Champion Waterfowl Tucson 2008, Young Drake, nephew of the 2007 winner.
Buff
To the left is my 2009 breeding pen of Buff Ducks that came directly from Brian Schulte in Minnesota. They are good size and very consistent. They lay medium to large duck eggs are very fertile and have great hatchability. There was a great deal of color variance in my original birds, however, through hatching large numbers and culling heavily for the birds with the best size and deepest even seal brown color, they have improved over the past 5 years. One draw back that some judges do not like is the pastel colors they have in the heads and around the main tail of the males. The heads tend to be gray, mine are slowly getting browner. The areas on both sides of the tail quite often have blue in it, not something that you want in these birds. Over the past 5 years both my males and females are becoming more evenly colored and deeper colored as well. I have had numerous Class Champions with these birds and a hen was Champion Large Duck at the American Poultry Association National Show at Stockton California in 2006. They have won at Ventura and Tucson as well.