The Swedish Blue ( sv, Svensk blå anka, italic=no) or Blue Swedish is a Swedish breed of

domestic duck The domestic duck or domestic mallard (''Anas platyrhynchos domesticus'') is a subspecies of mallard that has been domesticated by humans and raised for meat, eggs, and down feathers. A few are also kept for show, as pets, or for their ornament ...

. It emerged during the nineteenth century in what was then

Swedish Pomerania Swedish Pomerania ( sv, Svenska Pommern; german: Schwedisch-Pommern) was a dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815 on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held ...

, located in present-day north-east Germany.

History

The Swedish Blue emerged during the nineteenth century in what was then

, now located in north-east Germany; the first documented mention is from 1835. Some birds were exported to the United States in 1884, and it was added to the Standard of Perfection of the

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in the North America. It was founded in 1873, and incorporated in Indiana in 1932. The first American poultry show was held in 1849, and the APA was later formed in respo ...

in 1904 as the "Swedish", with the single color variety "blue". The population of the Swedish Blue in Sweden consists of only 148 breeding birds; its conservation status worldwide was listed as "critical" by the

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

in 2007Barbara Rischkowsky, D. Pilling (eds.) (2007). [ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a1250e/annexes/List%20of%20breeds%20documented%20in%20the%20Global%20Databank%20for%20Animal%20Genetic%20Resources/List_breeds.pdf List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources], annex to [ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a1250e/a1250e.pdf ''The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture'']. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. . Accessed August 2014. and in 2014 was listed as "endangered-maintained" in Sweden.Transboundary breed: Swedish Blue
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2014. No data is reported from Ireland, the only other country reporting the breed.Breed data sheet: Swedish Blue/Ireland
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2014. It is listed as "watch" by the

American Livestock Breeds Conservancy The Livestock Conservancy, formerly known as the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) and prior to that, the American Minor Breeds Conservancy, is a nonprofit organization focused on preserving and promoting rare breeds, also known as "h ...

. The Blue Swedish is not a popular exhibition breed either; specifics on wing color make the breed challenging to perfect and often discourage breeders and hobbyists from owning the breed.

Characteristics

The Swedish Blue is a medium-sized bird: the male weighs between and the female usually weighs . Swedish ducks are regularly compared to the body type of Cayugas and Orpingtons, however Swedish should have shorter bodies with more width compared to what is seen in those two breeds. Blue Swedish have medium, oval-shaped heads. Color should be a consistent blue-slate with darker lacing around the border of each feather. Drakes are generally darker than ducks. The only part of the birds that is not some variety of blue is the white, heart-shaped bib found on the breast, extending up the front of the neck terminating towards the mandible of the bird. It is distinguished from the Pomeranian Duck by its white

primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

. The blue color is due to

heterozygosity Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism. Mo ...

in a dilution

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

. As in other blue poultry such as the

Blue Andalusian The Blue Andalusian, es, Andaluza Azul, italic=no, is a breed of domestic chicken indigenous to the autonomous community of Andalusia in south-west Spain. It is distributed through much of the countryside of Córdoba and Seville, and is con ...

breed of chicken, if a two blue birds are bred, the young are, in the usual Mendelian proportion: * 25%: a

homozygous Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism. Mo ...

form, black where the blue should be * 50%:

heterozygous Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism. Mo ...

, the typical blue * 25%: the other

form, splashed or silver with combinations of blue and black and white. Thus only 50% of the offspring of a blue-blue mating are blue. If the black and splash homozygous forms are bred together, the offspring are all heterozygous and thus the desired blue color.

Use

Ducks lay some 100–150 white or tinted eggs per year of weight.

References

{{reflist, 45em, refs= Swedish Duck
Pittsboro, North Carolina: The Livestock Conservancy. Accessed June 2018. APA Recognized Breeds and Varieties: As of January 1, 2012
American Poultry Association. Archived 4 November 2017. Breed data sheet: Svensk Blå Anka/Sweden
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2014. Liste des races et variétés homologuée dans les pays EE (28.04.2013)
Entente Européenne d’Aviculture et de Cuniculture. Archived 16 June 2013. Breed Classification
Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 12 June 2018. Ducks
Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 9 November 2018. Victoria Roberts (2008)
''British poultry standards: complete specifications and judging points of all standardized breeds and varieties of poultry as compiled by the specialist breed clubs and recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain''
Oxford: Blackwell. {{ISBN, 9781405156424. Duck breeds Duck breeds originating in Germany Conservation Priority Breeds of the Livestock Conservancy