Japanese duck
The Japanese duck ( Ahiru ) is an ancient Japanese duck breed that was bred in Japan alongside the small, wild-colored domestic duck Kamo (similar to the mallard ). She is a penguin from South and East Asia.
Japanese ducks were first shown in Europe by the Japanese government at the Paris World Exhibition in 1878 and then purchased by Alexandre Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire , director of the Parisian Jardin d'acclimatation ( German "acclimatization garden" ), who continued to breed them. A line of this offspring came to JF Engelhard in Nuremberg in 1879, who ensured further distribution.
Exterior
Baldamus compared the figure of the Japanese with that of the Peking ducks and found that they might have an even more upright, straightened posture, the long body and an even thinner neck and a finer, narrower head. The laying or fat belly is even more pronounced. In terms of figure, head, beak, eyes and neck, she equated the drought with the ducks . Only "they are bigger, stronger in the trunk or abdomen". He described her with a comparatively long body, a thin neck, a fine, lean head, and a strong, long beak high at the root. Her back was broad and between her rather high and strong feet was a fat sack (fat belly) that reminded the drought of the Toulouse goose .
- Penguins in comparison
Japanese duck
The length of the drakes from beak to tail tip was 75 cm, that of ducks 70 cm. The chest width, measured across the wings, 56 or 50 cm. Their posture was mostly very upright, "straight as a pin" when their attention was aroused. The weight of the imported animals was 4 kg for the drake and 3 to 3.5 kg for the ducks.
The coloring and drawing of the Japanese duck is similar to that of the wild and Rouen duck , but is lighter. The lower body of the drake is almost entirely white.
Utility
The utility of the Japanese is said to have been high. JF Engelhard claimed "the blow is frugal, hard, little exposed to diseases, lays eggs hard, delivers usable feathers, excellent and lots of meat."
The laying performance was given as an average of 90 eggs per year and an average weight of 75.5 grams. The color of the shell was similar to that of Peking ducks, an oily white color. The ducks did not breed, their breeding instinct was not developed.
The young raised themselves easily and quickly grew to be heavy. At 6 weeks they were completely feathered and weighed 2 to 2.5 kg at 8 weeks and 3 to 3.5 kg at three months. By the age of four months they had molted and reached the weight of adults.
Whereabouts
In Europe, the Japanese disappeared again in 1897. Possibly because the breed characteristics of the ducks were disputed in specialist magazines and they were declared to be crosses of the Peking and Rouen ducks. According to Baldamus, such crossbreeds were actually exhibited as real Japanese ducks, but neither Baldamus nor Bruno Dürigen doubted the breed. Both described the Japanese duck (Baldamus as Anas japonica , Dürigen as Anas domestica erecta ) alongside the Peking duck as breeds that developed from the tribe of the Asian penguins . The same applies to the authors Schmidt and Rudolph.
Literature and evidence
- ^ A b Alfred Beeck (ed.): Baldamus Illustrated Handbook of Poultry Breeding. 2nd volume, 4th completely reworked. Edition, Berlin, RC Schmidt & Co., 1908, pp. 330-331. ( online ).
- ↑ a b c d Horst Schmidt : Large and water fowl . Turkeys, guinea fowl, geese, ducks (= manual for breed and ornamental poultry ). 2., revised. Aufl. Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1996, ISBN 3-8001-7315-8 , Japanese duck, p. 228-229 .
- ↑ a b c Bruno Dürigen : Poultry farming. Handbook and textbook on racial studies, breeding, care and keeping of domestic, farm and park poultry. Berlin, P. Parey, 1923-1927, Japanische Ente, pp. 366-367, 370-371. (1st volume, species and races. Online )
- ↑ Wolfgang Rudolph : Die Hausenten (= Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei . No. 492 ). 2nd expanded edition. A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg Lutherstadt 1978, DNB 790002426 , duck breeds , p. 15 .