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| Exhibition Waterfowl Discussion related to exhibition waterfowl. |
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#1
06-20-2009, 01:02 PM
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Selecting Saxony Breeders
We imported 11 Saxony ducklings from a well respected source. I've sexed them and as luck would have it, we have 3 females and 8 males. They have just finished growing in their first set of feathers. None of the females have what I would call good quality facial striping. However, 4 of the males have really nice facial striping which I assume will eventually dissapear behind the blue head. As luck would have it, the two biggest males have no facial striping.
I'm a long way from making any hard decisions on the males but will probably only keep 3 to go with the 3 females. Not the ideal situation, but ya work with what you got. My questions, to aid in my selection decisions is: Does anyone have experience selecting for female traits (facial stripes) from juvenile male? Or in other words, all things being equal, are the males with nice facial striping more likely to produce better daughters than the males without? Thanks for any advice. 
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#2
06-22-2009, 09:44 AM
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Hmmm ... nobody knows? Is this too advanced for this forum?
 Joking aside, anyone interested in what I learn?
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#3
06-22-2009, 05:29 PM
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Somebody should know here??? Other than just looking @ the birds, I do not have any experience with them. If you need to contact Holderread's in OR. I am sure they would be more than willing to answer some questions. http://www.holderreadfarm.com/
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#5
06-24-2009, 11:42 AM
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Thank-you both. I'm glad to know that they will demonstrate their facial stripes again in the eclipse moult. In a year, I'll certainly have a better idea of what I'm looking for.
I agree, size and type first and always! These birds are from Holderreads and therefore have good type. In fact, if I just look at their outline, they are like peas in a pod. I will definately be weighing each and every one for the record book and only consider those that are standard weight or more. If the breed sticks, I will then select for egg production once the base population is built. I'm exited, hopefully my muscovies will finally have some competition for the heavy duck class 
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#6
06-25-2009, 12:22 AM
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On another Saxony note, has anyone ever hatched white birds from Saxonies? I only ask on this thread because my husband got his Saxony from H as well.
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#7
08-19-2009, 10:48 PM
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Saxony
Unless you are unwilling to inport from (Saxony/East) Germany, the best breeder in North America is Fred Farthing in Missouri.
Fred doesn't feed you some elaborate sales line; he selectively breeds his birds and does show them in a competitive area. If you are willing to jump through the hoops and pay the big $$$ to import; email me and I will give you a contact in Saxony. "nuff said." BP
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#8
09-27-2009, 11:27 PM
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saxony
I agree with brian paul 100% fred has some very nice saxonys and back when i had my muscovys he beat me with a very nice female they seem to do very well in tough competition i think there was 45 or more heavy ducks that year and i am going to get some more muscovys from him this year its been 4 years since i have had some show ducks can't wait
thanks Jacob
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#9
10-02-2009, 10:27 AM
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Take the above advice with a grain of salt, it is tainted by Brian's personal dislike for Holderread. I guess some feel they can make their flame burn brighter by blowing on another?
One of our new young Saxony males have finally given our Muscovies competiton for the Heavy Duck class, winning twice. First time this has happened since I started showing them in 2004. Very impressive wins and I tip my hat to the breeder!!!! To further put this into perspective, a couple have tried importing top eastern American bred muscovies to put my locally bred efforts in their place. They were not even competitive. I recall at our National putting 5 old black males up against the import "ringer". The import placed a distant 6th. Back to the subject heading, Selecting Saxony Breeders: It's important to note that the following observations are based upon viewing only 13 birds. I have observed a respectable amount of variation in those 13 birds, they are not peas in a pod. All are obvious Saxonies, but when viewing the finer details, each differs in it's strong and weak points. As a breeder, I like the genetic variation because it provides an opportunity to further refine the breed without outcrossing to another line. Some patterns emerged which could be due to nothing more than the small sample size. For instance, those males with the best female markings (first feathers) developed into the least desireable males. The most robust males with best male colouring came from the males that initially displayed the poorest female markings. This could all just be a coincidence, but may also suggest that there are sex related traits working against each other and the need to focus on distinct male and female lines. Who knows? Can't wait to revisit these ideas after observing the outcome of a hatching season. Last edited by Omega Blue Farms; 10-02-2009 at 10:31 AM. Reason: typo
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#10
10-13-2009, 10:58 PM
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Dear Omega,
You don't know me or my bias. So here is some personal/my own convictions.... If you have anything to say to me, here is my home number as well as my cell. If you have any balls, call me. 803-432-1067 803-260-1889 By the way, what is your's?? I have a good many family in Canada, so I'm willing to make the call. I stand by what I say and I ain't scared to post my email or phone number and I can speak English very well. I have given you more than enough opportunites to respond in private, but I have not heard anything. I will be at the joint national in 2011. Please come and introduce yourself and I will shake your hand (and we can start fresh)--and I will more than gladly offer to pay for drinks. Before you make some blind conclusion, you ought to at least talk to me in person or via email. I answered your post via private and you still chose to vilify me online; typical of one without class. Regardless of our differences, the offer still stands for drinks on me. Yeah, Matt (and the other moderators), I know, this post will probably be deleted... Brian Paul Witt Last edited by breeder; 10-14-2009 at 08:28 AM.
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#11
10-14-2009, 08:30 AM
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Quote:
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#12
10-30-2009, 05:21 PM
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To Matt, Breeder, and all,
I apologise for the language. Thanks for the small edit; I tend to get cocky (pun intended--I'm in the home of the 'Fighting Gamecocks'--South Carolina!!) at night with a few drinks and some Vicodin in me. Due to some personal issues, some health problems, and A LOT of soccer/Futbol games, I've not been online in almost two weeks... That said, there is no excuse for my language or tone in my previous post on this forum. Again, I apologise to Omega Blue Farms, the moderators, and to any other viewers/posters. I was way out of line with the comments that were deleted. Thank you and asking for your forgiveness; if not, I understand. Sincerely, BP
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#14
10-31-2009, 12:21 PM
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Quote:
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#16
11-13-2009, 03:39 PM
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I haven't read this forum for some time, but am enjoying catching up a bit this fall.
I got Saxonys last year, never having actually met one before. I love the breed, the two ducks I have are absolutely gorgeous and match the various pictures of quality Saxony ducks I have seen. They are a mother/daughter and I can hardly tell them apart. The two males I got last summer have stripey heads and not a good clear blue head, one more than the other, but otherwise seem to be very nice type. These were just straight run, NOT sold to me as show quality ducklings. I may well be looking for another source for more of them next year so that I can have more than one bloodline to work with as so far I'm loving them.
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#17
11-15-2009, 01:05 PM
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I do not know a thing about breeding the Saxony color pattern but let me tell you something I have learned from investagating the Gray Call color pattern. If you have a young male with good stripes on his face and you wished they would be on your females take the male that had the best stripes of all the males and mate him to the best female that meets your color ideal. Even though he losses his stripes as a adult male he showed you as a young drake he had them. I hatched a late gray call baby duck hoping it would be a pullet. This duck had the best color I ever saw on a female gray call. After he went thourgh the wing deveolpment he started loosing his pretty female color. He is now the prettyest colored drake I ever hatched, he has no black in his bill and he should have very good type. I will mate him to the best colored female I got this year hoping to improve the color on my females in years to come. It is my hope that these males that show good female color as a young drake will pass this on to their female off spring years in to the future. You may even take this drake and mate him back to two of his best daughters next year and improve this color in this section of the body. One day with putting breeding pressure in this area you will have the color which you dream about. If you can not get this color to show up then go and get a good drake or female from the breeder that they where talking about.
This may work as well with this color pattern. I do not know if anyone has written or passed on the secrets of breeding the saxony color pattern. I have yet to find a article on breeding Rouen, Gray Call or Mallard color pattern for the past fifty years to help me with my questions. Hope this helps you up in Canada. Brian, I will be at the show in Indiana, I will have a glass of milk with you and Matt when you go out for a drink. Or better yet lets have a party in a hotel room on Friday night befor the show. Look forward to finding out who one best call and best duck at the Ohio National. Sould not be to much longer befor the word gets out. Bob
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#18
11-21-2009, 03:09 PM
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Thank-you Robert, your decades of practical experience coincides with my gut instincts. Thanks.
As I suggested earlier, my best male had the worst female facial markings in his juvenile plumage. However, that better male has stood out from early on and I favoured it before it went on to win Best of Breed at all sanctioned shows I attended this year, beating my muscoveys once. Since I focus on production before show, I strongly favour body type over feather colour in my selections, and therefore must give priority to this male. The male with the best female markings was a smaller, less robust male that I ranked 5th for body type. For the sake of retaining the female facial colour traits, I selected it as my 3rd and last breeder male. I intend to only select his best daughters for use in future generations. I would also like to point out that this breed is starting to look like fantastic layers. They starting to lay a month ago, despite being under natural lighting and this far north. Suprisingly, so far they are not that much behind the Campbells in the laying department. It's hard resisting the urge to put them into the incubator  ************************************************ Brian, I replied to your PM.
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#20
11-23-2009, 08:01 PM
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Selecting Saxony Breeders
My Cayugas would sometimes lay in the Fall and their eggs were never fertile. My Saxonies have laid every Fall for the three years I have had them and so far the eggs have always been fertile. I am about to set 15 this week.
Carl Valley Green Poultry
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