Rouen Duck

A heavyweight breed of domesticated duck that originated in France before the nineteenth century, raised for meat, exhibition or as a general purpose bird, though it is not a prolific egg layer. Rouen ducks resemble mallards in plumage: males show dark yellow bills, green heads and white collars, and females are a consistent shade of mahogany brown with fine penciled markings, but adult Rouens are notably larger than mallards, production varieties weighing 6 to 8 pounds and the heavier standard-bred variety 9 to 12 pounds. The breed has a docile, lethargic temperament and matures slowly, taking 6 to 8 months to reach full size, and its heavy body makes it a poor incubator of its own eggs, exhibition-typed birds sometimes crushing eggs if left to nest. Despite modest egg production of 35 to 125 eggs a year, Rouens are valued as an excellent meat bird with delicate flesh.