Skip to main content

Saxony Duck

The Saxony duck is a large breed of domestic duck originating in the Saxony region of Germany in the 1930s. The breed was initially bred by Albert Franz of Chemnitz. He cross bred Blue Pomeranian, Rouen and German Pekin ducks for creating this breed. He tried to create a meat duck breed that would mature in 10 weeks and have lighter feathers underneath.

And he introduced this new creation at the Saxony Show of 1934. But during World War II, almost all of his original stock was lost. So after the war, Franz renewed his breeding program.

Germany recognized this duck as a distinct breed during 1957. And the Saxony duck is called Sachsen Enten in Germany and known as Le Canard de Saxe in France.

The breed was thought to be imported into the Britain during the 1970s. And the ducks made their way to the United States in 1984 when the Holderred Waterfowl Farm imported them. Saxony duck was recognized by the British Waterfowl Standards in 1980.

And was admitted into the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection in the Fall of 2000. The number of Saxony duck is not too much in the United States. There are several hundred Saxony ducks in the United States, and the breed is on the Livestock Conservancy critical list for the United States.

The Saxony ducks are mainly raised as an utility bird and also good for showing and raising as pets.

Saxony Duck Characteristics

The Saxony duck is a dual purpose breed and classed as a heavy duck. It has a long and compact body, broad across the shoulders and has prominent chest that is smoothly rounded.

The head of the Saxony ducks is somewhat oval shaped and blends smoothly. They have a medium thick neck that is slightly arched forward. When relaxed, the carriage of the Saxony duck is 10-20 degree above horizontal.

The colors of the drakes are distinct from any other breed, but typically display the Mallard pattern. The drakes have blue-gray colored back, head and wing markings. Their breast feathers are a rich chestnut-burgundy, the neck and ring are white.

And their underbody and flanks are of cream color. The legs and feet of the Saxony drakes are orange or reddish-brown in color. Their bill is yellow or orange in color, often with pale green shading.

On the other hand, the females are of buff color with creamy white neck ring, facial stripes and underbody. The bill of the Saxony duck is orange in color, often with brown shading. Their legs and feet are of orange to reddish-orange color.

saxony duck, saxony ducks, about saxony duck, saxony duck breed, saxony duck breeders, saxony duck behavior, saxony duck breed info, saxony duck care, saxony duck color, saxony duck characteristics, saxony duck eggs, saxony duck egg color, saxony duck egg size, saxony duck egg weight, saxony duck facts, saxony duck for meat, saxony duck for eggs, saxony duck history, saxony duck hatchery, saxony duck info, saxony duck information, saxony duck images, saxony duck meat, saxony duck origin, saxony duck personality, saxony duck pictures, saxony duck photos, raising saxony duck, saxony duck size, saxony duck temperament, saxony duck uses, saxony duck variety, saxony duck weight

On average, adult Saxony duck weight about 3-3.6 kg. Photo from Wikipedia.

Uses

Saxony duck is a dual purpose breed, suitable for both meat and eggs production. It is a beautiful bird and well suited to both watching and petting.

Special Notes

The Saxony ducks are beautiful dual purpose birds. They are relatively gentle birds, have rather calm temperament and are not flyers. The breed is very good for meat production. They mature pretty quickly and produce meat with more flavor and less fat.

Saxony ducks are great foragers and always ready to root out insects for supplementing their diet. They have rather lean dark meat because of their high activity level.

Saxony ducks are fairly easy going, but the females are quite noisy. They usually do not quack, instead they make a raspy sound if anyhow they become excited.

They are good layers and will lay up to 200 large white eggs per year. The ducks are broody and will sit on the eggs until they hatch.

However, the Saxony duck is one of the best heavy all purpose duck breed, and adapt well to a wide range of environments. Review full breed profile of the Saxony duck in the following chart.

Breed NameSaxony
Other NameCalled Sachsen Enten in Germany and known as Le Canard de Saxe in France
Breed PurposeDual Purpose
Special NotesActive, Calm, Excellent Foragers
Breed ClassHeavy
BroodinessAverage

Ducks

3 kg
Drakes3.6 kg
Climate ToleranceAll Climates
Egg ColorWhite
Egg SizeLarge
Egg WeightUp to 80 grams
Egg ProductivityMedium
Flying AbilityPoor
RarityCommon
VarietiesSaxony
Country of OriginGermany

Comments

Popular Posts

Murray Grey Cattle

The Murray Grey cattle are a breed of beef cattle from Australia. It was developed in the upper Murray River valley on the New South Wales. The breed was developed in 1905 from an initial chance mating of a black Aberdeen Angus bull and a roan Shorthorn cow during the Federation drought. From these matings the resulting thirteen dun-grey calves were kept as curiosities. And then Peter and Ena Sutherland bred them on the Thologolong property along the Murray River in New South Wales. Murray Grey cattle grew faster and were good converters of feed and produced quality carcases. These are the reasons this animals become very popular after their development. And local farmers became interested soon in these animals and began breeding them. The first large scale commercial farms were established in the 1940s. Today the breed is available in many countries. Both live Murray Grey cattle and embryos have been exported to many countries such as Canada, South America, New Ze...

Sorting Cattle

Sorting cattle is important if you have a large number of animals. For better management you will need to separate the animals into different groups depending on their age, size, gender or condition score. If some cattle of your herd need to be examined by a veterinarian or confined due to injury or illness, then separation may also need to be done. Sorting is also needed for separating the calves that need to be weaned from their mothers. And separating the bulls is also necessary after they have done their duty with breeding cows. Sorting Cattle Sorting cattle is not actually a difficult task. It can be done easily if you understand stockmanship principles that take advantage of bovine psychology and behavior. However, here we are describing more about the ways of sorting cattle. Sorting From a Squeeze Chute In this system you can move your cattle through a working corral into a chute system into the squeeze. In this system you can check and process animals f...

Andalusian Black Cattle Farming

Andalusian Black cattle farming is not too popular, even in it's native area. It is a relatively rare breed which is valued for meat production. But today, the breed is listed as 'endangered', and total number of the breed is very less. The Andalusian Black cattle is a taurine cattle breed, and it was originated in west Andalusia, Spain. It is also known by some other names such as Negra de las Campiñas, Negra Campiñesa and Spanish: Negra Andaluza. The Andalusian Black cattle is actually a beef cattle breed which is raised primarily for meat production purpose. The breed is found in two main areas of west Andalusia (from Cordova to the foothills of the Sierra Morena), and in the provinces of Seville, Cádiz and Huelva. Today, total population of the Andalusian Black cattle breed is very less. And there were about 800 purebred cattle in the year of 2007. Total number of this breed decreased mainly for crossbreeding with other local cattle breeds. Other reason...

Belted Galloway Cattle Farming

Belted Galloway cattle farming is popular, especially in it's native area. It is a beef cattle breed and raised mainly for meat production purpose. The breed is also known by some other names such as Beltie, Oreo Cow and Panda Cow. The Belted Galloway cattle breed was originated from Galloway in the west side of Southern Scotland. It is a heritage breed, and is well adapted to living on the poor upland pastures and wildswept moorlands of the region. Exact origins of the breed are unclear. But it is often surmised that the white belt of the breed may be a result of cross breeding with the Dutch Lakenvelder belted cattle. And the breed is named so mainly because of the belt. An association for the breed named the Belted Galloway Association was formed in 1921 in Scotland. And the name of the association was changed to Belted Galloway Society in the year of 1951. The association keeps and records pedigrees for Belted Galloways and oversees the registration of White and Re...

Cleaning A Cow

Cleaning a cow in the proper way can keep the animal look and feel fresh. Cleaning also help to prevent external parasites. You may also need to clean your cow to show it off at your local county fair or other occasions. And you need to clean your cows more often especially if you have dairy cows. You can integrate a spraying system for cleaning a cow once a day or so. Along with cleaning the body, you should also provide a footbath for better health of the cow's hooves. However, here we are describing more about the process of cleaning a cow. Sprinkler System Add Sprinkler in a Pre-milking Wash Pen You can construct a pre-milking wash pen with sprinklers for cleaning multiple cows. In this system, install sprinklers all along the pen you hold the cows in before milking. Using concrete for the floor will be good. It will help to keep the floor dry quickly and you will not have a constantly muddy area. You should spray sprinklers both up and down to wash the cows th...

Agerolese Cattle Farming

Agerolese cattle farming is not common, even in it's native area. It is a dairy cattle breed which is raised mainly for milk production purpose in it's native area. It is a pretty rare breed and not available outside it's native area. The Agerolese cattle is actually from the area of Agerola, in Campania in southern Italy. It was developed from cross-breeding of indigenous Podolica cattle with Bruna Italiana, Italian Holstein-Friesian and Jersey cattle. The breed is particularly associated with the Sorrento Peninsula and Monti Lattari. The Agerolese cattle is one of the 16 minor Italian cattle breeds of limited diffusion recognized and protected by the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali, the Italian ministry of agriculture. There were a total of 200 animals available according to a census completed on 1 January 2002. And the conservation status of the Agerolese cattle breed was reported by the FAO as 'endangered-maintained' in 200...

Ankole-Watusi Cattle Farming

Ankole-Watusi cattle farming is pretty popular, especially in it's native area. It is a multi-purpose breed of domestic cattle which is raised and valued for show, draught, meat and milk production purpose. The Ankole-Watusi cattle is a landrace breed, a type of Sanga cattle and originally native to East Africa. It is also known as Ankole Longhorn, and also sometimes known simply as Ankole or Watusi. Ankole-Watusi cattle is actually an ancient breed, and ancient rock paintings and depictions of these animals have been observed in the Sahara region and in the Egyptian arts and pyramid walls. The Sanga breed has spread to the Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and some other parts of Eastern Africa, becoming the base stock of the indigenous African cattle populations. It has most of the usual Zebu characteristics such as the pendulous dewlap and sheath, hump of variable size and the upturned horns. The Ankole-Watusi cattle have played a very important role in the lives of various ...