Khaki Campbell

Description

The Khaki Cambell is a lightweight, midsized duck, prized for its egg laying ability. Like its name suggests, they are a Khaki or Brown / Tan in colour. They can lay up to 300 eggs a year.

Use

The egg production of the Campbell breed can exceed even the most efficient of egg-laying domestic chickens, with the breed laying an average of 300 eggs a year. When provided a moderate "duck conscious" environment to live in they will lay a more than modest number of eggs per week.

Campbells become mature at approximately 7 months. Campbell ducks seldom hatch out others' young; however, in very communal situations do hatch large broods together. Most brooding instinct has been selectively bred against in exchange for prolific egg laying ability in this breed. The ducks, when raised by hand, are not usually defensive of their eggs or nests, making collection of eggs very easy. Mechanical incubators or broody chickens are used to hatch out Campbell ducklings when ducks are not present in the process. Incubation takes approximately 23 to 28 days for a Campbell duckling to hatch and eggs need to be inspected for ducklings that have not emerged from their egg completely.

Showing

Weight: Drake: 2.3 – 2.5 Kg, Duck: 2 -2.3 Kg.

In 1941 Khaki Campbell Ducks were introduced to the American Standard of Perfection.

This breed of duck is listed as 'Watch' by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

The Khaki Campbell drake is mostly khaki-coloured with a darker head usually olive green lacking the white ring of its Mallard ancestors. The Khaki Campbell duck has a more modest plumage of Khaki covering the entirety of the body.

History

The Campbell is a British breed of domestic duck.^{[5][6][4][7][8][9]} It was developed at Uley, in Gloucestershire, England, at the turn of the 20th century; being introduced to the public in 1898 ^[10] and the Khaki variety in 1901.^[11]

The Campbell duck originates from Uley in Gloucestershire. It was created by Mrs Adele Campbell who aimed to produce a fast maturing dual purpose utility duck for laying eggs and having good table qualities. She crossed a Rouen drake with a Fawn and White Indian Runner duck that was said (Lewis Wright’s Poultry) to have been an individual duck “which exhibited the most remarkable laying powers” and in a letter from Mrs. Campbell herself to The Poultry World in 1901 says the Indian Runner laid 195 eggs in 197 days. She says “The original Campbells were practically this cross, except one season a Mallard drake was used.”

The wild Mallard was thought to have been used to improve the taste of the meat. She produced ducks that were laying averages of greater than 200 eggs per year. Lewis Wright says they were “probably something of a Rouen colour, since the original Campbells are somewhat like Rouens in appearance, but much lighter” and goes on to say “…the drakes have grey backs and a pale claret breast, the legs yellow.”

Mrs Campbell had created a utility duck that had become very popular but soon William Cook was to release his Buff Orpingtons and the Buff colour became the rage so she tried to create a Buff coloured Campbell but as she says in her letter to The Poultry World “…and I thought of getting Buff too but failed. They would come khaki. Just then the South African War was on, so I suppose it was patriotism. The foundation of the Khaki Campbells was the original Campbell mated again to fawn and white Indian Runners.”

The Khaki Campbell although announced in 1901 was only standardised some years later in 1926. A White variety of Campbell was also developed by Captain F.S. Pardoe in 1924 and admitted to the standard in 1954. The White Campbell produced a more attractive carcass for the table that could be more readily sold. The Dark Campbell was also standardised in 1954 and was created by Mr. H. Humphreys of Devon some years before this to create a duck that is sex-linked when crossed with a Khaki drake, producing Khaki Campbell ducks and dark looking males that can be sexed from these down colours as day old ducklings.