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Double Spot is a production quality hen from Clearview Hatchery. Her name comes from the fact that her fawn
coloring is split/or spotted on the back of her head. A common color fault, but it made her easy to identify.
She is 3 years old and lays large creamy white eggs. She is at the bottom of the pecking order and usually stays well
away from the others when treats are being handed out. But she is usually the loudest! She’s small, so not very fast
and only a fair egg layer. But she makes pretty babies that do lay well. (See Bandit below.)
Freckles is no longer living here, but she was so pretty that I thought she deserved to be included. She is a production quality hen from Metzer Farms. She is 2 years old and an excellent layer of extra large, pale green
eggs. I still don’t know if she is blue or silver. (I think she’s actually a very poor/pale quality blue
since she did have some chocolate babies last year when she was mated to a chocolate drake.) As her name implies,
she has many “off” color feathers. She even has teal blue feathers in her right-hand wing speculum.
But they are, of course, what makes her pretty. She passed on her evenly distributed "off" color feathers and her excellent
laying abilities to her babies. (See Stormy below.)
Chrystal is a top show quality hen from Holderreads’ Waterfowl Farm. She is 1 year old and lays large
green eggs. She has good confirmation and a deep blue color with nice lacing and only a minimum of “off” color
feathers. She has been laying very well so far. Almost every day. I hope to get some silver babies from her and
Tango in the future.
Oksana is a top show quality hen from Holderreads’ Waterfowl Farm. She is my most skittish
and is absolutley convinced I am going to eat her whenever I walk in her pen. But she eats bread from my hand out in
the yard. Makes no sense to me.
Skittles is a top show quality hen from Holderreads’ Waterfowl Farm. She is 1 year old and
an excellent layer of extra large green eggs. She has good conformation and an especially animated gait. But,
to be honest, I thought her color was quite boring until she molted into her true adult feathers and began to aquire
aging white. Now I find her color amusing. And I've read that the hens that display aging white make babies with
the best green sheen. So she may have good color qualities to pass on as well as that nice build.
Mr. Bean is no longer living here because his color is not compatible with my breeding goals. But
one look tells you why he got his picture included here. He is a top show quality drake from
Holderreads’ Waterfowl Farm. I believe he has the best conformation of all my Holderreads' babies from 2003.
To look at him, you truly get the feeling you could pick him up like a wine bottle! Check out his page to
see how his color changed as he matured. Also, please note, gray females do NOT look like this. They look
like female mallards. But, sadly, my gray female was my one and only casualty in the mail order experience with Holdderreads'.
That's why I don't have any gray female pictures. It's a long trip from Oregon to Virginia.
Benjamin Fish is a top show quality trout drake from Holderreads’ Waterfowl Farm hatched in May of 2005. He was tall
and slim and had a high stepping gait. I think he may have had the nicest head I’ve ever seen. He still has his facial
stripes at this age in the fall of his first year, but his head did eventually go solid green just like Mr. Bean’s.
The trout color is the same as the gray/mallard except that the trout also has a double dose of the recessive light phase
gene. That lightens the overall color and extends the claret onto the shoulders and sides and may enlarge the size of the
neck ring as it did in Benjamin’s case. He was absolutley gorgeous. (I speak in the past tense here because Benjamin
wound up getting invited to dinner in the spring of 2006. He was too rough on several of my hens. In his defense,
I was short on space due to ordering too many birds for my housing arrangements. Not knowing if he would treat other
hens that way, I thought it best to cull him rather than potentially inflict that on someone else. It was not a good
day. But I believe in keeping a flock that can live in harmony.)
Patrick is a top show quality drake from Holderreads’ Waterfowl Farm who was hatched in May of 2005. I had 7 penciled
pairs that year. He was the only drake that I felt lived up to his breeding. Straight up! He went vertical at a young age
and has never slouched since. He became king of the duck yard when he turned 1 year old; even able to chase all the geese
with just a glaring look. He is beautiful up close when in full nuptial plumage. Did you know that each one of those brown
feathers is actually a stippled pattern? And he eats treats from my hand. He’s one neat guy and he knows it!
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| Patrick and most of his siblings as teenagers in 2005 |
Gilligan was a top show quality drake from Holderreads’ Waterfowl Farm who was hatched in May of 2005. He was one
of Patrick’s 6 brothers. He was my second choice as a breeder drake, but I sold him for lack of space. He wasn’t
quite as straight up, but that slightly arched neck made him more photogenic. I include him here so his beauty may live
on.
Rutger is a top show quality drake from Holderreads’ Waterfowl Farm. He is as tall and
slim as he looks. His most amusing feature is that he looks as if he's pedaling a bicycle when he strolls by in profile.
He has claimed Stormy as his girlfriend. If they get separated, he comes running to find her! I hope to hatch
some of their babies to see how his comfirmation might improve hers. And hopefully figure out what color is hiding behind
that white.
Tango is a top show quality drake from Holderreads’ Waterfowl Farm. He was not happy
about being chased with a camera. He doesn't usually move as quickly as he is here. Normally he navigates with
all the dignity of an old British gentleman. He is one of those "stand and look pretty" birds. Or maybe he's just
calm enough to observe things rather than flee blindly into the nearest wall or fence! He has good conformation and
deep blue color with nice lacing. He does have some white on his neck, but otherwise, a minimum of "off" color feathers.
Tommy is a top show quality drake from Holderreads’ Waterfowl Farm. Yes, his neck is too short
and doesn't flow smoothly into his body. BUT, he has the best personality and good stance. He has huge brown eyes
and is the most demanding for treats. He stretches vertical to a whole new level. He is so light on his feet that
I have to look twice to see if he's actually touching the ground! I'm not breeding for shows anyway. I'm breeding
for backyard comedy and beauty. I hope to hatch some of his babies and see if he passes on his great qualities with
a minimum of bad.
Stormy was raised here and is from production quality parents from Metzer Farms. So she is only production
quality. But she is unusual in several ways. The first is her color - beige. This is not a color you will
find at any hatchery that I know of. She is also unusual as a layer of extra large green eggs. Because she
started laying in the middle of October when she was only 5-1/2 months old. And that was without artificial lighting.
She laid virtually every day right through to early February when I stupidly put floodlights in one stall of my night pen
to add alittle heat. The lights didn't add any warmth and she quit laying in about 3 days' time. Then she promptly
molted. But got right back to laying in less than a month! Amazing. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten Hershey
afterall. It is the father who makes the biggest difference in the laying abilities of the children.
Bandit is from two production quality parents. So she is only production quality. She
is a color that won't be found at any hatchery. And she is the inspiration for the pursuit of party-colored runners
- those that are marked like pinto horses and/or the Ancona breed of ducks. She even has white primaries in her wings.
But she needs a bit more white on the body. She's alittle slow like her mother, but a much better layer of extra large,
fat, green eggs. She, too, started laying in mid-October at only 5-1/2 months old. And fell victim to the
"floodlight incident". Ceased to lay, molted and then right back to laying in less than a month. So, while I might
never get her babies to wear more white (perhaps only looking like Swedish ducks) they should have good egg laying potential.
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