Khaki Campbell

The Khaki Campbell was first bred in the late 1800s by Adele Campbell in Gloucestershire, England. She had crossed her Fawn and White Indian Runners with Rouens in order to make a breed with exceptional egg laying abilities with larger bodies. Wanting the then popular buff color, she tried to breed her original Campbells with Penciled Runners. She did not get the buff color she wanted, but the color she got was similar to the khaki color used in British army uniforms so the ducks became Khaki Campbells.

The newly dubbed Khaki Campbell was introduced to the public in 1898 and made its way to the United States in 1929 thanks in part to Perry Fish of Syracuse, New York. They became a part of the American Standard of Perfection in 1941, despite the fact their numbers had languished for several years. This changed in the 1970’s when the Khaki Campbell population increased due to social movements to return to the land and duck egg demand increased due to Vietnamese immigrants after the Vietnam War.

 

The Khaki Campbell is a light weight bird, around 3½ to 4½ pounds, and a very prolific layer. In 1920 Aalt Jansen from the Netherlands started breeding Khaki Campbel
l imported from England. With careful breeding and testing, Jansen was able to produce a strain that averaged 335 to 340 eggs per duck per laying year. With a flock of 50,000 that is 16.75 million eggs per year which was extraordinary at the time. The Jansen flock was eventually picked up by the Kortlang family in England. John Metzer has visited the Kortlang farm and our own Khaki Campbells have some Kortlang blood in them.

Jansen Farms Letter Header April 15, 1978

Breed	Temperament	Weight	Egg Production	Mothering	Bluish Eggs	Egg Size
Khaki Campbell	Nervous	3.5 - 4.5 pounds	165-240/year	Good	<5%	75-85 grams
Fertility	APA Class	Foraging Ability	Conservation Status	Our Show Quality	Flying Ability	Origin
87%	Light	Very Good	Watch	Fairly Good	Maybe	England

Can Medicated Feed Be Used for Waterfowl?

Can medicated feed be given to ducks and geese?  Many people say No.  I will explain why I feel the answer is Yes.

First of all, there are four drugs (medicines) that are approved by the USDA for the use in ducks.  These have been used successfully for years to control a variety of waterfowl diseases.   They are Chlorotetracycline, Neomycin,  Novobiocin and Rofenaid. 


The bigger concern, however, is sacked feed sold at your local feed store.  Some of these sacked feeds (especially starter feeds) have medications in them to control coccidiosis.  Coccidiosis is an internal protozoa parasite that can harm chickens, turkeys, game birds and occasionally waterfowl.  As coccidiosis is a common problem, and most people have chickens, the feed manufacturers will often include medication in starter feed to better control this disease.   But what about waterfowl?  Will it harm them?

Non-medicated Starter Feed by Ace Hi - though I would prefer a starter as a crumble, not a mash

We have contacted all the feed mills that we could find that make sacked poultry feed in the US.  From material they have sent us or from their website, we have learned that these 29 mills make 59 different starter feeds for chickens, waterfowl and game birds.  Of these 59 starter feeds, 19 have a medication in them to control coccidiosis.

Four drugs are used.  Fifteen of the feeds contain Amprolium, 1 has Monensin, 1 has Lasolocid and 1 has BMD (Bacitracin methylene disalicylate).

Medicated Starter Feed with amprolium by Kalmbach Feeds

To investigate this further, I asked for the assistance of Dr. Larry McDougal of the University of Georgia and Dr. Alison Martin of the Livestock Conservancy.  Both of these individuals have done extensive work with coccidiosis.  They found research that had been done here in the United States and abroad on the effect of these four drugs on waterfowl.   As Dr. McDougal said “Not one of these papers described any harmful effects to waterfowl except where the normal dosage was significantly overdosed.” 

Non-medicated Grower feed by Southern States

Many of you have heard of Dave Holderread, of Holderread’s Waterfowl Farm in Oregon.  Dave is an expert on waterfowl and an ultimate waterfowl breeder.  He conducted research on coccidiostats with Oregon State University in 1982 (1).   His paper states “Frequently publications pertaining to waterfowl state that medicated feeds should not be fed to ducklings and goslings.  In some localities, producers and hobbyists who raise a small number of ducklings and goslings can only purchase medicated chick, turkey or game bird starter and grower feeds.  Because of the lack of documented information on this subject and the numerous requests for advice on this matter, anticoccidial drugs zoalene, sulfaquinoxaline and amprolium were mixed in mash feed and fed to ducks up to four weeks of age.”

His conclusion was “From this experiment, it appears that sulfaquinoxaline, zoalene, or amprolium at the manufacturers' use levels for chickens and turkeys did not cause mortality, stunted growth or cripples when fed to Khaki Campbell ducklings to 4 weeks of age."

Therefore, it appears research shows these drugs do not harm waterfowl if used at the rates commonly used with chickens and turkeys.

Medicated Chick Starter using amprolium by Lone Star Mills

Have there been coccidiostats used in the past that were harmful to waterfowl?  Probably and that is why the myth began. But those drugs are no longer allowed or no longer used in the United States.

What if you have the choice of medicated or non-medicated starter feed of equal nutritional value?  My recommendation would be to use the non-medicated feed.  There is no point in feeding medication when it is not needed.

HOWEVER, if the choice is nutritionally correct medicated starter feed (20%+ protein) or non-medicated feed that does not meet the nutritional needs of the ducklings and goslings, I would definitely recommend the nutritionally correct, medicated starter feed.  Research shows the medication will not harm the waterfowl.

(1) Holderread, D., Nakaue, H.S., Arscott, G.H. 1983 Poultry Science 62:1125-1127

Can You Move Laying Ducks During Egg Production?

If you move ducks that are laying eggs into a different pen, will it adversely affect their egg production?  If you had asked me this question three weeks ago, I would have said "Absolutely! Yes, egg production will drop dramatically!".  Well, I would have been wrong.

In late fall we have to clean a lot of our buildings in preparation for next year's duck breeders.  Normally we move all the breeders from a building to our sell pen and start cleaning out one years worth of manure and bedding.  Our Khaki Campbells were still laying fairly well in a building that was scheduled to be cleaned.  My breeder manager, Guillermo, decided to move them into an empty pen in another building so we could get another two to three weeks worth of eggs from them before that building had to be cleaned, too. 

If he had asked me prior to the move, I would have said "It won't work, but go ahead and try if you want.  They will stop laying within a couple days of their move."  I encourage employees to try new things but I knew how this was going to work out.
          

The ducks were walked into a trailer and driven to their new pen, about 80 yards away.  The construction of the buildings is exactly the same, though their new pen was a mirror copy of their first pen (for the new pen the water was on the west side and nest boxes on the east side instead of east and west in the older pen).  In addition, they have new neighbors on both sides of their new pen.  Now, look at the egg production of that Khaki Campbell flock.
                  Eggs
Nov.  15       86
          16       90
          17       97
          18      103
          19       92
          20       99
          21       98  The ducks were moved this day after their eggs were collected.
          22     102
          23     107
          24     100
          25     110

You can see they have not gone down in egg production!  The move was a stress but there were many things in common between the old pen and new pen: same feed, same feeders, same nipple waterers, same bedding, same lights, and same light schedule.  They are a bit more nervous but otherwise have taken well to their new pen.

I still do not recommend moving breeders while they are in production - especially if they are early in production and you are getting more eggs each day - but I have learned you can move older flocks if you have a real reason to do so and the new pen is very similar to the old pen.

See - you can teach an old duck farmer new tricks!