Introducing Ukrainian indigenous poultry — domestic ducks

A new series about various poultry breeds of Ukraine has been written and compiled for "Fancy Fowl" by Dr Mikhail Romanov and Dr Yuri Bondarenko which deals with the genetics and breeding of native breeds currently under conservation at the Poultry Research Institute. Anyone wishing to get information or to discuss terms of supplying Ukrainian poultry breeds and strains, is invited to contact the authors at: Poultry Research Institute, Borki, Zmiyov District, Kharkov Region, 313410, Ukraine. Telefax: (05747) 3 49 58.

History: Raising ducks has been common practice in the Ukraine for a long time. A variety of native domestic...

...in males and dark olive in females. Feet are dark orange. Eyes are dark brown. Skin is white (YY). Egg shell is white (gg).

Day old duckling down colour is grey with a yellowish green tinge, females being slightly lighter. Bill is greyish black in males and brown in females. Egg production 120 eggs (during 6-7 months). Egg weight 80-90 g.

Ukrainian Clay: Developed from...

...segregating individual Ukrainian Grey ducks. Plumage of sex-linked brown dilution type (d); bill light (olive) green in males and dark green in females; feet reddish orange; skin white; egg shell white.

Newly-hatched ducklings are two shades of olive; down, bill and feet in females are lighter in colour. Egg...

...average body weight at 150 days of the Ukrainian Clay, Black White-breasted and Grey is 3209, 3188 and 3179 g, respectively.

Current developments: At the moment, the four Ukrainian duck breeds are preserved as germplasm stocks at the Poultry Research Institute in Borki. Several selected performance strains or lines have been produced. The main direction of the current duck breeding is towards the development of hybrids (including the cross Kharkovsky 37) and of a synthetic coloured strain based on the Pekin and Muscovy duck lines. Work is also taking place on the establishment of a gene pool of the Borki selection groups and varieties of the Ukrainian Clay, Ukrainian White and Black White-breasted ducks.

Three selected body weight strains of the Ukrainian Whites are bred at the Poultry Research Institute...