Golden 300 Hybrid and White Layer Ducks

Golden 300 Hybrid ducks

The Golden 300 Hybrid was developed by us in 1996 in order to meet customer demand for ducks that produce a high volume of eggs but are calmer than the Khaki Campbell. Several years after that the White Layer was developed as customers wanted a duck that had a lighter colored embryo for balut purposes.

White Layer ducks

The Golden 300 and the White Layer are our top egg layers, capable of laying 230 eggs in 40 weeks of production or 290 eggs if they lay for a full year. The only difference we have found between these two strains is the White Layer lays about 1-2% blue/green eggs and the Golden 300 lays about 5% of blue/green eggs. Otherwise they are identical in terms of egg production, egg size, shell strength, etc.

We crossed different breeds of ducks together to make the Golden 300, the breeds of which are a secret! Since the Golden 300 and White Layer are composed of different breeds, they have quite a bit of hybrid vigor and typically have less mortality and live longer than most other breeds. Their eggs are not as large as a Pekin but they produce many more and … produce much less manure!

Male Golden 300 Hybrid ducklings

As ducklings, the sex of the Golden 300 can be determined by their down color. Female ducklings are shades of brown including light brown, chocolate brown, and combinations of brown and yellow, while males are shades of black ranging from stark black to different patterns of black and yellow. As adults, the female can range in color from a light brown to a dark brown with patches of white. Adult males have a much darker plumage ranging in color from all black to black with a white chest to almost a male Rouen appearance. The White Layer, on the other hand, has to be vent sexed as both male and female are yellow as ducklings and white as adults.

If you produce babies from our Golden 300 they will not retain these characteristics of females being brown and males being black. You will hatch all colors, including white, with no relationship between the color and the sex. The White Layer, however, breeds true, meaning the White Layers will produce more white ducks.

Typically they also have great temperaments making them good as pets. We have had some customers, however, that tell us their White Layers and Golden 300 are very nervous and we have had other customers tell us their birds are calm. This is puzzling to us as the genetics does not change. So what causes this wide swings in temperament?

Female Golden 300 Hybrid ducklings

I phoned Dave Holderread, waterfowl breeder and author, and he also agreed that some birds can be nervous and others calm from the same breed. His only guess is that there is a period in their early lives where they are very susceptible to and impressionable by fear. They are scared by a dog, or they are caught and handled by a person, or light movements at night scare them and they are not only terrified but are nervous from that point on.

Can we tell you when that susceptible period is? No. Can we tell you when that period ends? No. All we can say is to allow them to have plenty of room to move away from you in their pen (if they are running or flapping you are moving too close or too fast), warn them you are coming (rattle your keys, whistle, sing, knock on the door or simply talk to them as you approach) and do not overcrowd them. You can always give your birds treats from the very beginning but you cannot count on the treats to totally overcome a traumatic event that makes them overly nervous.

People ask how much egg production will drop in the second generation if our Golden 300 or White Layers are used as breeders. We do not know for sure but our guess is the progeny will lay 5-8% fewer eggs than the birds you purchased from us. We are also asked how much production drops in their second and third years of production. The rule of thumb is a drop of about 8-10% per year.

White Layer duckling

You cannot find a better egg laying duck than the Golden 300 or White Layer. Whether you just want a few ducks for your own family’s needs or you want a commercial flock to sell eggs to farmers markets, bakeries and restaurants, the Golden 300 and White Layer are the ducks for you.

Breed	Temperament	Weight	Egg Production	Mothering	Bluish Eggs	Egg Size
Golden 300 Hybrid	Calm	4.5-5.75 pounds	200-290/year	Fair	5%	75-90 grams
Fertility	APA Class	Foraging Ability	Conservation Status	Our Show Quality	Flying Ability	Origin
93%	NA	Good	No Rank	Not Shown	None	Metzer Farms

Breed	Temperament	Weight	Egg Production	Mothering	Bluish Eggs	Egg Size
White Layer	Calm	4.5-5.75pounds	200-290/year	Fair	1-2%	75-90 grams
Fertility	APA Class	Foraging Ability	Conservation Status	Our Show Quality	Flying Ability	Origin
93%	NA	Good	No Rank	Not for Exhibition	None	Metzer Farms

Fresh Duck Egg Survey Results

As explained in our prior post, we emailed a survey on fresh duck eggs to 93 of our customers that had purchased ten or more female Khaki Campbell, Golden 300 Hybrid or White Layer ducks.  The response rate was fantastic as we received 89 completed surveys! 

We felt the most important question in the survey was what services and products our customers wanted that would help them produce and sell more fresh duck eggs.  We gave them twelve choices and they ranked them from most important to least important.  More detailed descriptions of these questions was in our prior post.  In the following graph, the longer the bar, the higher average ranking it received.

Services Our Customers Want So They Can Produce and Market More Duck Eggs

Items in the Other category were requests on how to keep the pens drier, how to manage ducks on pasture, provide sample advertising, conduct a survey of pricing, and explain why duck eggs cause fewer allergic reactions than chicken eggs.

As we develop answers or products to meet these needs, we will provide them in this blog.  We are also developing an email list of those interested in the production, marketing and use of fresh duck eggs.  We hope to involve these people in our fresh duck egg program.  We may ask for their favorite duck egg recipes and quotes from chefs or bakers to whom they sell so we can produce a marketing brochure everyone can use.  Or we may ask for comments on a redesigned duck egg carton.  Or we may conduct another survey on pricing so those just starting in the business know what others in the nation are charging for duck eggs.  If you want to be included in this group, please email us at metzer@metzerfarms.com 

The following chart shows where our customers sell their duck eggs.  With duck egg brochures, recipes and marketing ideas, I would suspect more will start selling to bakeries, restaurants and grocery stores.

Where Our Customers Sell Their Duck Eggs

 

We were also interested in the flock sizes of those responding to the survey.  As you can see, most of have flocks of from 11 to 100 females.

Flock Size for Survey Respondents

Our last question was their prediction of sales for next year.  The number on the left is the number of respondents for each category.  Over 60% of the respondents predicted sales increases of 10% or more. If you weight the responses according to their flock size, the overall prediction is an increase of 12.3% in sales next year.

Responders were given five choices for next year's sales forecast

Many duck eggs are also sold in Asian stores as balut and salted eggs.  Less than 5% of our respondents sold balut and salted eggs.

As we said earlier, we feel there is a tremendous potential for fresh duck egg sales.  Now that we know what our customers need, we will start working on these services so our customers can meet this market demand.