AYLESBURY DUCKS, SHETLAND DUCKS, PILGRIM GEESE & BLACK ORPINGTON CHICKENS

Utility Aylesbury ducks

Our Aylesbury ducks are reared for both meat and eggs; after years of duck keeping, a duck egg is now far preferred to those of the hen for their taste, not just through sheer greediness for their superior size. The Aylesbury is a fabulous meat breed, with a dressed weight of 6-8lbs, and they aren’t slack in the egg department either, producing an egg a day throughout the laying season; the eggs are very large and creamy white. These are the Jemima Puddleducks of the waterfowl world.

Shetland Ducks

We keep a small breeding flock of Shetland ducks, the rarest duck breed in the UK, and a priority breed on the Rare Breed Survival Trust at risk register. Our birds were hatched from eggs sourced from the Island of Trondra, in the Shetland Islands, where the birds were saved from extinction by Tommy and Mary Isbister. We have been surprised and delighted that the ducks lay almost year round – they must find our Devon weather a doddle in comparison to their Shetland origins. Although laying is prolific, the breeding season is still limited to spring and early summer.

Black Orpington large fowl chickens

We have kept various chickens (and guinea fowl) for many years but hadn’t had any clucking around for far too long. In 2010 we decided to remedy this and have developed a small flock of rare breed Black Orpington large fowl. They are the best tasting meat breed we’ve ever had and are on the Rare Breed Survival Trust at risk register.

Pilgrim geese

Pilgrim geese are a light weight auto-sexing breed, their colour indicating their gender (the gander is white with some grey speckling, the females a light grey with some white). Pilgrims are on the Rare Breed Survival Trust at risk register.

Tips for successful hatching

In response to lots of queries about the hatching and raising of Pilgrim geese and ducklings, we have produced a Pilgrim Gosling factsheet and a separate duckling factsheet.

Not only are our pigs captured in print, our Aylesbury and Black Indian Runner ducks acquired a bit of fame of their own too, featuring in Jack Byard’s Know Your Ducks, published in Spring 2011.