Orpington Duck
| Orpington | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Origin | Category | Egg Colour | Sitter |
| Britain | Light Breed Duck | White or cream | Yes |
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The Orpington Duck is a dual-purpose breed used for meat and egg production. It has been known to lay up to 220 eggs a year. It was created by William Cook of Orpington, Kent, UK. The breeds used in the development of the breed included Cayuga, Indian Runner, commercial Aylesbury and Rouen.
There are five colours of Orpington, Buff, Blue, Black, Chocolate and White but only Blue and Buff are known to be in Australia. The Buff should be buff throughout and the White white throughout, whereas the Blues, Blacks and Chocolates have a white heart0shaped bib on the upper part of the breast.
As a breed the Orpington is quite useful. Of medium size, giving excellent full0breasted and plump ducklings, hardy, vigorous, and quite good layers of excellent-sized and generally pure white eggs. They are most suitable for fanciers and private persons who want a useful yet good-looking bird - ideal, in fact, for the hobbyist.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
THE DUCK
Head: Fine and oval in shape. Skull narrow.
Eyes: Brown iris with blue pupil, set high in the head; large and bold, giving the head a look of alertness and activity. A deepset, scowling eye is objectionable.
Bill: Proportionate to the head in size, upper mandible straight from bean to base in line with the highest point of skull.
Neck: slender, of moderate length, upright.
Body: long, broad, and deep, particularly at the shoulders; free from any sign of keel. Full, round breast. When in lay, the duck's abdomen should be nearly touching the ground. Strong wings carried closely to the sides. The back should be perfectly straight in line, the tail being small, compact and rising slightly from the line of the back.
Legs of moderate length proportionate to the body of the duck, strong and well apart; straight toes connected by web.
Plumage tight and glossy.
Carriage should be slightly elevated at the shoulders, not quite so horizontal as the Aylesbury, but avoiding any tendency to confusion with the upright carriage of the Pekin or Runner.
THE DRAKE
The type and general physical characteristics of the drake should be identical with those of the duck after allowing for sexual differences. The chief sexual differences are as follows: Slightly increased length and weight, curved feathers in tail, longer bill, and colour differences, lack of depth in abdomen.
COLOUR
THE BLUE
Plumage an even shade, the darker the better, with a touch of white on the breast, the head and upper part of the drake's neck at least two shades darker than his body colour.
Duck head, neck, body and breast: blue throughout, free from bronze tint, with a white bib extending from centre of neck about three inches on to the breast, roughly oblong about two inches at the widest part. Clearly defined.
Drake head and neck: a darker blue - at least two shades darker than body colour.
Bill: Male: Blue, Female: Blue-slate
Eyes: Black pupil with deep blue iris
Legs and Feet: Male: Orange-black; Female: Blue-brown.
Serious Defects: Twisted wings, wry tail, any other deformity. White in face, all yellow or orange legs. Colour other than standard.
THE BUFF
Duck: Plumage a rich shade of fawn/buff, even throughout, the head and upper part of the drake's neck at least two shades darker than his body colour. Free from lacing, barring and pencilling, blue, brown or white feathers.
Drake: Colour is the same as in ducks, and as level as possible throughout with the following differences: Head and neck, seal brown with bright gloss, but complete absence of beetle green. The seal brown of the drake's neck should terminate in a sharply defined lie all the way round the neck. The rump should be reddish brown as free from "blue" as possible. Common faults to be avoided are blue in rump, pale colour or deep brown under tail, white wing. Serious faults are grey, silver, or blue head, white feathers in neck, brown secondaries, beetle green in any part, very green bill, and any of the physical defects mentioned against the duck.
Bill orange with dark bean.
Eyes brown iris and blue pupil.
Legs and Feet bright orange red in colour.
WEIGHTS
Standard Weight — Drake: between 5 lb and 7.5 lb. Duck : between 5 lb and 7 lb.
Bantams - In Australia a bantam variety of Orpington Duck is also recognised - the weights being approximately one third of the weights of the standard variety.
SCALE OF POINTS
SERIOUS DEFECTS
- Colour other than fawn or blue
- Lack of size
- Twisted wings
- Any deformity.
SOURCES
- The American standard of perfection, illustrated. A complete description of recognized varieties of fowls, as revised by [the Association at its 62d-67th annual meetings, 1937-42.] Public Domain accessed from: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009169004
- The Poultry club standards, containing a complete description of all the recognised varieties of fowls, ducks, geese and turkeys, ed. by William W. Broomhead. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009202629
- Australian Poultry Standards 2nd edition
- Ives, Paul Pomeroy. Domestic Ducks and Geese. New York, Orange Judd publishing company, inc., 1951. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924090294343&view=1up&seq=7
- Ducks by Reginald Appleyard