Swedish Yellow Duck: Facts, Uses, Origins and Characteristics

The Swedish yellow duck is an intentional combination of three different domestic species. Even though these ducks are relatively rare, they are attractive to keep due to their calm temperament and triple purpose.

The Swedish Yellow Duck can be tricky to find, depending on where you drop on the map. But if you’re lucky enough to find a few of these beauties at a local hatchery or breeder, they’re usually easy to keep and make fantastic pets. Let’s learn more.

Quick Facts About Swedish Yellow Ducks

Origins of the Swedish yellow duck

The Swedish yellow duck was developed in the province of Skane in Sweden by Mans Eriksson. There is little debate about the actual ducks used to form this yellow waterfowl, but it is assumed that they have Blue Swedish, Khaki Campbells and a landrace of white duck.

Swedish yellow ducks were surprisingly common in the 1930s. Developed in the 20th century, these determined waterfowl have come to fill people’s farms across Sweden. It wasn’t until the 1950s that they began to become what he would consider a rare breed of duck.

Today it has only been verified that they still exist in their homeland, Sweden.

Characteristics of the Swedish yellow duck

Swedish yellow ducks are known for their wonderful dispositions, making them fantastic pets for children and adults. You can easily use them for school projects and other formulated activities as they are easy to handle and almost completely flightless.

The Swedish yellow duck spends most of its day wading around the barnyard. They like to have a water source nearby, like all waterfowl. Males may show aggression towards other ducks during mating season, but must be docile otherwise.

There is no denying that this duck is hearty and moderately active to promote excellent foraging skills.

Uses

You get the best of all worlds by choosing the Swedish Yellow Duck. These birds are suitable for all uses you can imagine – ornamental, egg and meat production. They are truly a triple-purpose breed, which makes you wonder why they haven’t regained popularity over the years.

Although they are a relatively rare breed, we recommend that you don’t use them for meat if you can. Many other prominent meat ducks on the market would work better in the scenario. However, they make a robust and flavorful meat bird.

These ducks lay large white eggs, although they can sometimes have a bluish or grayish tint. Generally, they can lay up to 130 eggs per year.

Thanks to their blue Swedish heritage, these ducks often brood and make excellent mothers. Even if they don’t hatch their own set of eggs, they will happily mother other ducks and even chicken eggs!

Appearance and varieties

As the name suggests, most Swedish yellow ducks are yellow in color. Although males have brown heads which makes them sexually dimorphic compared to females. Males slightly outweigh their female counterparts by a pound or two.

The term yellow is loosely used for this breed. If you look closely you will notice that they are more buff to yellowish brown. The appearance was achieved by combining Swedish ducks, Khaki Campbells and white ducks.

Population/Distribution/Habitat

Swedish yellow ducks have limited availability in today’s world.

Is the Swedish yellow duck good for small-scale farming?

Swedish yellow ducks are wonderful for small-scale keeping due to their wide range of uses. However, unless you live in the native country of Sweden, you will not have access to the specific species.

Many other related ducks might be readily available, such as the Khaki Campbell and the Swedish Blue. Also, other waterfowl resemble the Swedish yellow, such as the Buff Orpington duck.

Featured image credit: Dennis Jacobsen, Shutterstock