Domestic Waterfowl Club.

Hook Bill Ducks.

Breed History; . . .
A breed that originated in seventeenth and eighteenth century Holland where illustrations of a North Holland White Breasted Duck are obvious ancestors of this breed. The curved bill is said to allow sportsmen shooting wildfowl to distinguish the breed from the Mallard in flight. Like a Mallard, with white bib, or white; Curvedbill. . . Mentioned in all the 1770's books. Depicted in Dutch artwork and etchings  from Melchior d'Hondecoeter (1636 -1695) to  Eleazar Albin  who recoreded them as in England in his book of 1731. Mentioned in 1848 as in Norfolk as a decoy "There is also the White Hook-billed Duck, with a bill monstrously curved downwards, not upwards, as some writers have it, but Roman-nosed Ducks in short, with features like Cruikshank's Jews, of a most grotesque and ludicrous appearance. It may be superfluous to remind the reader, that White Ducks make but a sorry figure in towns or dirty suburbs, or anywhere that the means of washing themselves are scanty. But Hook-billed Ducks are nothing new. Albin, in 1738, published coloured figures of both sexes, which look much as if they had a right to claim the rank of a species. The lines of small white specks on the head, as he describes them, are remarkable. The bill has some resemblance in its curvature to that of the Flamingo. He says, " These Ducks are better layers than any of the other, either wild or tame."" From 1857 Teatise on the History  and Management of Ornamental Poultry  sorry non PC writer of the time

SPRING 2010 Unfortunately one of he bigger breeding groups in the Netherlands has been killed so they  have only half of the original population left. Even certain Colours are gone.At this point White, White breast, Dark wild coloured ( dk of a Mallard colouration), Dark blue wild coloured, And Wild coloured are known to exist We know that there are breeders which still have rare old colors such as: Black, Blue, Bi and tricloured (White with Black and White with Wild coloured marks) and probably more. We are putting together a list of breeders and keepers in Europe so that we all can help each other out getting new fresh bloodlines to keep this rare breed safe for the future. contact Mariano Zamorano at:-  info AT zoonimal .com

Names.Kromsnaveleend. Alsoknown as Lecanard a` Bec Courbe' in France/Belgium or Canard Sabreur. Curvirostra di Landsmer..Kromsnaveleend, Krummschnabelenten in Latin Anatra Curvirostra
Country Of Origin;......... Netherlands
Carriage;. . a skinny Campbell with a 'concorde bill'  
Purpose;...........Eggs.....exhibition
Egg Colour .....................blue ..large some lay white
Egg Numbers............. 100 /200
Breed Defects. .. . .dished bill   
Incubation:.. . . . . . . 28 (ish)
Breed Hints....  . . .Kept as trio or pair; due to rarity canbe inbred if trouble breeding buy a new male from a different source. . . .Will only hatch if brooded. Do not respond well to incubators and hatch is often 10/20%

Weights;. . 5 to 6 pounds

Hookbills in Holland

Skull showing curve

Blue

  from the The Natural History of Birds  Eleazar Albin 1731

  Crested Hookbills  as domestic ducks. . .Melchior d'Hondecoeter Hens/ Ducks 1630-90



1814, from 'Cyclopedia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature