Peeking at Pekins

Yesterday Amaretto announced the Qualified Breeders for September. Among those breeders was the Pekin Duck. Like a lot of the Barnyard Birds the Pekin is a real domestic breed, most commonly raised in the United States as a meat bird. 
The Chinese were sophisticated breeders of ducks; among several breeds they created was one named shi-chin-ya-tze, which roughly translates to "ten-pound duck", from which the American Pekin derives. In 1872, James E. Palmer of Stonington, Connecticut, loaded fifteen white ducks of this type for shipment to a businessman named McGrath in the United States. The birds were loaded at Shanghai but had been hatched in Peking (now called Beijing). Nine of them – six hens and three drakes – survived the voyage, which took 124 days and reached New York City on 13 March 1873. Five of the surviving birds were dispatched to McGrath but were eaten before they reached him. Palmer's four birds became the foundation stock of the American Pekin; by July 1873, his three hens had laid more than three hundred eggs.

The American Pekin is large and solidly built. The body is rectangular as seen from the side and is held at about 40º to the horizontal; the tail projects above the line of the back. The breast is smooth and broad and does not show a pronounced keel. The head is large and rounded, and the neck is thick. The plumage is creamy white, the legs and feet are a yellowish orange. The beak is yellow, fairly short, and almost straight.  The birds are large-framed, hardy and fast-growing – they may reach a body-weight of more than 3.5 kg (8 lb) in seven weeks.

In October 2018 when the 3.0 Barnyard Bird update was released, Amaretto brought out the first Ducks with two starter birds, the Mallard and the Pekin. They each came with possible hidden coats and traits. The hidden breed/traits might or might not be Non-Starter. You Never Know! 

To pay homage to Amaretto's 10th Birthday we celebrated by doing something special, on Sept 1, 2020 until Sept 30, 2020 anytime you breed any birthday coat together you have a chance to get a special Unique Breeding Birthday Surprise! These surprises were the Decade of Amaretto coats!

The Decade of Amaretto coats DO have the ability to pass.

Keep on quacking and Happy Breeding!