Gressingham Duck

Facts about Gressingham Ducks. The Gressingham Duck is undoubtedly among the ducks with highest breast meat percentage and according to many people, one with the gamiest flavor around. This duck was named after a village in United Kingdom known as Gressingham. This duck was first bred in this village back in 1980 from a cross of Pekin ducks and mallards. Nonetheless, in the year 1996, the rights to breed the bird were bought by Gressingham Foods. This means that all the ducks they produce are all from their East Anglia farms.

Scientific name for Gressingham Duck "Anas Platyrhynchos" meaning - Wild dabbling duck from which domestic ducks are descended; widely distributed. From New Latin "anas" meaning (Duck) and the word Platyrhynchos comes from "platyrrhine", Ancient Greek meaning (broad snouted, flat-bridged nose).
Gressingham Ducks are birds in the Class of "Aves". Gressingham Duck and Ducks of all types are part of the bird family "Anatidae". Gressingham Ducks are also called "waterfowls" they are generally found in places were there is water, such as ponds, rivers, streams, lakes and occasionally your back yard pool. The definition of Anatidaephobia is irrational fear that you are being watched by a duck.

The fully mature adult Gressingham Duck weighs between eight and eleven pounds (3.6 to 5 kg) in captivity. If the ducks are not eaten at an early age, they live up to nine to twelve years. The eye color of the Gressingham Duck, the iris that is, is grayish-blue but they appear black when seen from far away. The duck has a more upright stance than most ducks.

Whether you are planning of breeding this duck for fun or you are simply interested in finding the best breed of duck to raise in your backyard it is important to note that the Gressingham duck breed features some very interesting plumage. It also has nice bordering on green but they are more closer to black. Gressingham Duck is said to be the hybrid result mating between the domestic Rouen duck and the Black East India wild duck breed. The duck is slightly larger the commonly known Call ducks, with male Gressingham ducks weighing about 7 pounds (3.1 kg) and the females weighing at least 6 pounds (2.7 kg).

A "bill" is what is call a Gressingham Ducks mouth. There are no teeth in the ducks bill, they have rows of thin bristles, which helps them to filter pieces of nutrition out of the water. Gressingham Ducks swallow there food whole and it goes to an organ called a gizzard, were the food is first ground up and than moves on to the stomach. The different bill shapes and sizes for finding food, has over time mutated to fit each environment. The Gressingham Ducks bill is flat and broad and has rows of fine incision along the outer edge called "lamellae". meaning a thin membrane, plate, scale or layer, as of cell wall or bone tissue. The larnellae helps the Gressingham Duck to clutch food for feeding

In average, the adult Gressingham Duck will lay an average of two hundred eggs per year. This is if the bird is prevented to hatch, or in fact, does not want to. Normally, the Gressingham Duck will lay a single egg in any given day and they lay where other ducks have already laid their eggs, a behavior known as dumping. If the farmer wants the Gressingham Duck to lay eggs at a given point, then placing a golf ball helps in tricking the bird. Gressingham Ducks will lay more eggs, when there is more daylight, that's why farmers will keep the lights on in the ducks house for longer periods of time.

Water-proof feathers of Gressingham Duck

A special feature that the Gressingham Duck has is its water-proof feathers, even when the Gressingham Duck dives underwater, its downy under-layer of feathers will stay totally 100% dry. There is a special gland called the "Preen Gland" also called Oil Gland or Uropygial, that produces oil that is near the Gressingham Ducks tail which covers and spreads the outer coat of the duck's feathers, which makes the duck water-proof.

Underneath the water-proof coat are downy soft fluffy feathers which keep the Gressingham Ducks body warm. Ducks keep clean by being able to turn their heads completely backwards, and put their beaks into their feathers by preening themselves.

It is very difficult to determine the sex of a young Gressingham Duck. This is due to the fact the ducklings don’t have external genitalia or any other external differences. A common method, known as venting, involves gently squeezing the cloaca to force its opening and expel feces as the sexer takes note of now visible sexual organs.

Gressingham Ducks are related to swans and geese and the duck is the smallest of these birds with shorter wings and neck and a stocky body. Gressingham Ducks on average, live 4 to 8 years and can live up to 12 years, depending on the breed. Gressingham Ducks are omnivores; meaning - an animal that eats food of both animal and plant and origin.

A Gressingham Duck is a Precocial (meaning) Born or hatched with the eyes open, a covering of hair or down, capable of a high degree of independent activity from birth and able to leave the nest just a few hours after hatching.

The male Gressingham Duck will guard their nest by chasing away other ducks. Once the female Gressingham Duck lays 5 to 8 eggs, she will start to sit on her eggs to keep them warm so that they can hatch into baby Gressingham ducklings. The eggs will hatch on average within 26 to 28 days. Baby ducklings are able to fly within 5 to 8 weeks.

A male adult Gressingham Duck is called a (drake) and a adult female Gressingham Duck is called a (hen). A young baby Gressingham duck is called a (duckling). A group of ducks is called a brace, raft, team, flock, or paddling. The male Gressingham Ducks (drakes) are the brighter colored ducks while the female (hen) are usually a plain colored for hiding purposes to be camouflaged from their enemies when they are sitting in their nests.

The Gressingham Ducks feet have capillaries which help blood flow to their feet. The warm blood flow down the leg and creates a heat exchange system. When the blood flows down the leg, it meets the cold blood and is warmed up to keep the Gressingham Ducks feet warm. Ducks feet are thin because they contain soft tissue and few muscles.

Gressingham Ducks see in color with very good vision and can see well underwater.

Gressingham Ducks have webbed feet, that makes them act like paddles, designed for swimming. They push their webbed paddle feet back in a kicking motion, this allows them to move swift through the water and when the feet come back, they will close for less water resistance. The Gressingham Ducks paddle feet do not feel cold, even when it swims in cold icy water. The webbed feet makes a Gressingham Duck waddle instead of walk.