We have sold out of birds hatched last year so are now taking expressions of interest for the 2007 season. We have a limited number of birds we can rear in any one year so please book early for collection in the autumn. If you want eggs for hatching or day old ducklings please ask - limited supplies should be available between late spring to mid summer.

The Rouen comes from Rouen in France (also known as the Rhone Duck) and its close ancestry to the wild mallard can be seen from the plumage. In Europe it has been used as a table bird and has been influential in producing other table breeds. Laterly it has been bred for the beauty of the plumage and markings. They are close to Pekins andMuscovy in size and are said to have the best flavour. We have far too few to try them. Once upon a time they were reasonable layers for a meat birds with some eggs having a greenish tinge.
The Rouen is one of the more common non-commercial ducks in the U.S, popular in the restaurant trade. Its market seems to be growing since it produced leaner meat than the Pekin, the standard commercial duck in the U.S.
Exhibition Rouens do not have the production qualities that production types do. As a breed it has been "engineered" not to fly.
These ducks are excellent foragers, calm in disposition and unlikely to fly. Drakes mature at about 8 pounds and ducks at about 7 pounds. Laying rate varies; some very good strains average 100 eggs per year This is now rare in the UK with so much selection for perfect features. One major problem is that so few people record the numbers of eggs that their birds lay - it is almost impossible to know where the good laying birds are.

If you have Rouens - even if its only a few - can I plead with you to jot down each egg you get this year. It may be you have some good birds and breeders like ourselves, who are intersted in restoring these birds to a good productive state, would be interested in buying some fertile eggs or birds from you.

Drake: His head is rich iridescent green to within about 2.5 cm of the shoulders where a perfectly white , clean cut (not quite complete) ring divides the neck and chest colours.
The chest feathers are rich claret forming a clear cut bib.
The flanks and stern have grey charcoal stippled pencilling on a lighter background. The feathers over the back are rich green black.
The tail is dark brown and the wings are slate brown mainly. The flashes are iridescent blue, tipped with black and white bars.
Throughout the colour changes should be distinct and well defined.
The drakes bill is bright green yellow, wiht a black bean at the tip and his eyes hazel. His legs should be orange-red.

However - having described the bird in so much detail it is our storng feeling that concerntrating on such minutiae of feathering is one of the reasons why most Rouens are poor layers and some virtually infertile. It is not possible to ignore the productive traits if you want to continue to breed a strain. Egg records are a basic - equally are fertility adn hatching records. Obviously for this sort of breed the table weight is also important - that is not so much the wieght of the live bird but the carcass. We need alot more birds before we can get intothat but we are attempting to breed for a good meaty body rahter than just a heavy frame - bone is not so tasty!!! and breeding for frame often leads to confirmational and nutritional problems.