American Pekin
fancy | |
Traits | |
---|---|
Weight | |
Egg colour | white or tinted |
Classification | |
APA | heavy[3] |
EE | yes[4] |
PCGB | no[5] |
The Pekin or White Pekin is an American
History
The
In 1872, James E. Palmer of Stonington, Connecticut, loaded fifteen white ducks of this type for shipment to a businessman named McGrath in the United States. The birds were loaded at Shanghai but had been hatched in Beijing. Nine of them – six hens and three drakes – survived the voyage, which took 124 days and reached New York City on 13 March 1873.[2]: 92 [14] Five of the surviving birds were dispatched to McGrath but were eaten before they reached him. Palmer's four birds became the foundation stock of the American Pekin; by July 1873, his three hens had laid more than three hundred eggs.[15]
The Pekin was included in the first edition of the
Other birds of the same type were imported to the United Kingdom in 1872 and from there soon reached Germany, where they gave rise to the
Characteristics
The American Pekin is large and solidly built. The body is rectangular as seen from the side and is held at about 40º to the horizontal; the tail projects above the line of the back.[2]: 93 [16] The breast is smooth and broad and does not show a pronounced keel. The head is large and rounded, and the neck is thick. The plumage is creamy white, the legs and feet are a yellowish orange. The beak is yellow,[17]: 193 fairly short, and almost straight.[2]: 93
Use
The American Pekin is raised almost exclusively for
A number of commercial strains have been developed, including types kept solely as layers. From the time the birds reached the United States,
Pekin ducks may lay over 150 white eggs per year.[17]: 193 They are not good sitters, and eggs may need to be artificially incubated.[17]: 193
The American Pekin is sometimes kept for
: 94Notes
References
- ISBN 9789251057629. Accessed February 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9781603427456.
- ^ APA Recognized Breeds and Varieties: As of January 1, 2012. American Poultry Association. Archived 4 November 2017.
- ^ Entente Européenne d’Aviculture et de Cuniculture. Archived 16 June 2013.
- ^ Breed Classification. Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 12 June 2018.
- ^ a b Transboundary breed: Pekin. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed February 2017.
- ^ Transboundary breed: White Pekin. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed February 2017.
- ^ a b c d Kenneth Broekman (December 2009). The German Pekin Duck. Aviculture Europe. 5 (6), article 12. Accessed February 2017.
- ^ [s.n.] (1999). Food Arts, volume 12. Food Arts Incorporated.
- .
- ISBN 9781845934415.
- ^ .
- ISBN 9780192115799.
- ^ [s.n.] (February 1880). Pekin Ducks The Pet Stock Pigeon and Poultry Bulletin 10 (11): 1.
- ^ ISBN 9781847979704.
- ^ a b c d Paul-Erwin Oswald (2004). Amerikanische Pekingenten – Entenrasse im Blickfeld 2004 (in German). Sonderverein der Entenzüchter Deutschlands von 1895. Accessed April 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9781580176675.