The White Pekin is the quintessential duck that most individuals consider once they hear the phrase “duck.” This large white duck derives from an historical Chinese language breed, the title of which interprets as “ten-pound duck.”
The primary Pekins in the USA arrived within the early 1870s, hatched within the Chinese language metropolis of Peking, which is now Beijing. The White Pekin duck appeared within the first version of the American Normal of Perfection, revealed in 1874.
Bodily Attributes
Each female and male White Pekins have white plumage set off by a vivid yellow invoice and toes. Males will be tough to tell apart from females. Search for the male’s curly tail feathers, and hear for the feminine’s loud quack. Solely the males have curly “intercourse” feathers. Solely the females quack loudly.
Pekins attain 9 to 10 kilos at maturity. They shouldn’t be confused with Jumbo Pekins. The latter is a cross between two completely different Pekin strains, leading to a duck that may weigh 13 kilos or extra and might attain 90% of its mature weight in about 7 weeks. Jumbo Pekins are sometimes raised strictly for meat.
Breed Qualities
The White Pekin duck is a twin goal egg and meat breed. The hens lay 140 to 175 white-shell eggs per yr, beginning at 4 to five months of age. The eggs are the most important laid by any duck breed. The hens hardly ever brood, and once they do they make unreliable moms.
As meat birds, Pekins develop quick. With their white feathers, they pluck cleaner than darker breeds, since white pinfeathers don’t present as a lot. Alternatively, white plumage makes them extra weak to predators. Since Pekins are solely truthful foragers, anyway, they don’t seem to be your best option for free-range meat manufacturing.
The calm and docile White Pekin duck is simply too heavy to fly, adapts effectively to quite a lot of environments, and is simple to coach. All collectively it makes a pleasant and affectionate pet, in addition to a terrific present chook.
Useful Hyperlinks
And that’s at the moment’s information from the Cackle Coop.
Gail Damerow is the writer of An Absolute Newbie’s Information to Elevating Yard Geese : Breeds, Feeding, Housing and Care, Eggs and Meat.
