Buff Ducks! What are they and Where are they from?

William Cook is the father of the Buff duck. Born in 1849, he specialized in Orpington chickens and ducks, named after the town his farm was in, Orpington, Kent in England. At the time the buff color was popular as it was the same color as the waistcoat of the Royal East Kent Regiment. Wanting to capitalize on this, William started breeding Cayuga, Runner, Aylesbury, and Rouen ducks together in order to produce a buff color.

In 1897 William introduced the Buff Orpington duck. It was a medium sized duck, ranging from 6 to 7 pounds. It was considered a great all-purpose duck as it’s meat offered a decent sized breast in 8 to 10 weeks and could lay about 200 eggs a year, making it a good year-round layer.

William brought the Orpington buff duck to America in 1908 and showed it in the Madison Square Garden Show in New York City. In 1914 it was admitted into the American Standard of Perfection as simply Buff, making it the first breed to be named by only its color.

Today the Buff is a threatened breed. The Livestock Conservancy’s 2000 census has identified 793 breeding Buff ducks with only 11 people currently breeding them. It is still prized for its coloring and dual-purpose flexibility. In fact, many believe the buff feathers are easier to pluck than the white feathers of more popular meat birds.

We offer the Buff ducklings typically from mid-February through November each year. They are a calm, beautiful duck that is very popular.

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Want to know how to take care of your ducklings? Read our series of posts about what you need to know!

Brooder and Bedding

Water and Waterer

Feed and Feeder

Heating

Other Items to Consider

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Breed	Temperament	Weight	Egg Production	Mothering	Bluish Eggs	Egg Size
Buff	Calm	5-6.25 pounds	130-180/year	Fair	20%	80-90 grams
Fertility	APA Class	Foraging Ability	Conservation Status	Our Show Quality	Flying Ability	Origin
85%	Medium	Good	Threatened	Average	None	England

Information from our Duck Comparison Table

Niacin: What is it and Why do my ducklings and goslings need it?

-by John Metzer

Niacin is also known as Vitamin B3and is vital for good health and growth in waterfowl. Compared to chickens, waterfowl need 2 to 3 times the amount of niacin in their diet during their initial growth period, hence the occasional problem with low niacin levels being fed to waterfowl. Once they are grown, a niacin deficiency is very rare. Most owners do not know that there is a niacin problem until signs of a niacin deficiency occurs.

How to Identify a Niacin Deficiency

A niacin deficiency can be seen in the legs of the bird. If the legs are bent or “bull legged”,are pigeon toed, splayed to the sides, or are unable to support the weight of the bird, there is a high likelihood that it is due to a niacin deficiency. Such legs make it very difficult for the birds to move, preventing them from getting adequate amounts of food and water.

 

Remember, ducklings do the majority of their growing in the first 10 weeks of life. About 90% of niacin problems occur during this time.

Causes of a Niacin Deficiency

Typically poultry feed has enough niacin in it. If it doesn’t that means a mistake was made in making the feed or the feed is not formulated with enough niacin for waterfowl. Unfortunately poultry feed manufacturers are not required to put niacin levels on the feed tag. If you have a concern that your feed is low in niacin, you can phone the feed manufacturer and ask them how much niacin is in the feed. The feed store will probably not know, you will need to contact the feed manufacturer directly.

How to Fix it

Chicken feed, while it can be used as a starter, sometimes needs to be supplemented by niacin in one form or another. Supplements include niacin tablets, Vitamin B3 drops, and brewer's yeast. These supplements can be found at your local feed and vitamin stores.

Determining how much to supplement with niacin tablets, vitamin B3 drops, and brewer’s yeast will be covered in a future post.

Recovery?

Customers have said that a limping problem has been fixed after supplementing with extra niacin. However, if you do not correct the problem immediately and the bones become deformed, the legs cannot be straightened once you start supplementing with extra niacin. Hence, you must supplement as soon as you are suspicious you have a niacin deficiency.

Side Note

We have been asked if it is possible to overdose on niacin. Because of how small the amount is, it is easy to think you can give your birds too much. The answer is that you would need a lot to overdose. We don't have an exact amount to point towards, but humans can overdose on niacin and that can cause bowel problems. If your birds start having digestive issues, then it's a possibility, but is unlikely.

What is the NPIP and a Form 9-3i?

NPIP stands for the National Poultry Improvement Plan and is a cooperative agreement between the federal government and poultry producers. It was started in the 1930s to eliminate Pullorum disease by encouraging farms to test and eliminate birds found positive for the disease. Pullorum was a major problem at the time and was the cause of nearly 80% of the mortality in baby poultry. Once Pullorum was controlled, the NPIP expanded to cover other diseases and pathogens found in poultry.

We test for Pullorum-Typhold disease as well as Avian Influenza and Salmonella. Pullorum is tested for annually, Avian Influenza quarterly and Salmonella weekly. If you ever buy birds from us, you will see on the upper right corner of your invoice three crests showing that we are clean of Pullorum, Avian Influenza and that we are monitoring for Salmonella. The crests act as our verification from the NPIP.

In the past the NPIP required a separate sheet of paper, form 9-3i, to be included with the birds. Now, to improve efficiency, the NPIP has approved our invoice to be used as an official 9-3i – a separate sheet of paper is not required. If you must provide a 9-3i to your fair, just give them a copy of our invoice.

Every week we must notify the NPIP of all the shipments we have made - what breeds and quantities were sent and to whom. This report is required for all inter-state travel and enables the NPIP to track birds if there is a disease outbreak.

When shopping for any kind of bird, please ensure that the hatchery is a NPIP participant for Pullorum-Typhoid, Avian Influenza, and Salmonella Monitoring. This makes it safer for you, your birds and the poultry industry.

If you do ship day-olds, adults or hatching eggs across state lines you must be a member of NPIP and test for Pullorum. For more information on how to join NPIP, or learn how to generate a Form 9-3 online, if you are already a member, contact your state's NPIP director from this list

2018 New Year's Letter

Dear Waterfowl Enthusiasts!

I first want to thank you as a very valuable customer. It is only with customers such as yourself that we can succeed and grow and therefore offer you new breeds and services. It is our hope that 2018 will be even better in supplying you fantastic day-old birds and unsurpassed customer service!

We have specialized in waterfowl for over 40 years but are now seeing a tremendous growth in the interest in our meat chicken strains. We have the standard Cornish Cross that is unsurpassed in terms of growth rate and feed conversion. Last year we offered the Rolin S, a red broiler that gives an excellent meat carcass in twelve weeks. This year we are adding the Big Sur, a bird with the characteristics many of you have been requesting: a larger breast than the Rolin S, more white feathers for cleaner processing and a bird that can thrive in a pastured production system.

In the past we only offered goslings in pairs – now you can order all males, all females or any combination of straight run, male and female goslings! Many of you have been requesting this for years - now we can do it!

Starting in February we will be hatching and shipping on both Mondays and Tuesdays. This will continue through early June before we go back to Monday hatching only. As long as we have the birds, you can order for either day.

Last year we introduced three breeds: Silver Appleyard, Saxony and Hookbill. We ran short of the Silver Appleyard and Saxony frequently during last season but have increased our flock size substantially for these two breeds and hope to meet all your needs this year. The Hookbill, however, were extremely difficult to hatch and we are not offering them this year. If we can figure out how to best hatch them, we will have them in the future – but not this year.

Salmonella continues to be a concern with day-old poultry. We are in the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) Salmonella Monitored Program. We encourage you to purchase all your day-old poultry from hatcheries that are in this program as this ensures that hatchery is vigilantly monitoring for salmonella and taking corrective steps if it is found.

Even though we are doing all we can, it is important you provide safeguards, too. Wash your hands after handling poultry. Limit or prevent children under 5, the elderly and those with compromised immunity systems from handling poultry. We are not trying to scare anyone. Salmonella has always been around – we just want everyone to be careful.

Thank you very much!

John and Marc Metzer