THE AYLESBURY DUCK.

It is not certain how the Aylesbury duck evolved, as before the 18th century there was little domesticated breeding of ducks and any farmyard duck was similar to the wild mallard. But by the 18th century selective breeding had come into practice and a white

domestic duck emerged, becoming known as the "English White". The ducks from Aylesbury became even more distinctive with their bright orange feet and legs, flesh coloured bills and brilliant white plumage. The bird was at its best at eight weeks old, weighing four to five pounds and full of tender meat.

While the Aylesbury duck was highly regarded it was not without competition. Its main competitor was the Rouen, a breed originally from France and resembling the wild mallard. The markets, however, were fairly separate, The Aylesbury duck laid early in the season, producing the first eight week-old ducklings fit for the market in February. The Rouen, on the other hand, began laying late and its birds would not be fit for the table until they were six months old.

The duck industry kept many people gainfully employed and provided a good living for those in and around Aylesbury. By 1870, more than £20,000 a year was brought into Aylesbury and the surrounding area by the duck industry alone. Profits to the duckers varied according to the size of the operation, A small ducker in Aylesbury would see £80 to £200 from 400 -1,000 ducklings in a season. Large breeders, who could sell thousands of ducklings in a season, would expect something in the neighbourhood of £1,000 profit .

By the beginning of the 19th century, almost everyone who lived in the "Duck End" of Aylesbury was a ducker. This area was loosely defined as being bounded by Castle Street, Whitehall Street and Friarage Road. It was a poor, crowded section of town and some reports of its condition during the early 19th century show it to have been deplorable. Not only were the residents living almost on top of each other, but the ducks were reared inside the already damp, badly ventilated cottages. The habit of keeping the ducks indoors was unique to the Aylesbury duckers. There are tales of duckers who would take their ducklings to bed to keep the young birds warm and it doesn't take a lot of imagination to guess what the inside of the cottages must have been like with unhouse-trained ducks running about.

The duckers in Aylesbury were divided into rearers and breeders. It was the rearer who lived in town, with the stock ducks kept for breeding living on farms outside Aylesbury.

This was because the stock ducks needed to be under healthy, rural conditions so that they could adequately service their flock. The rearers who lived in, for example, Duck End would buy their eggs from the breeders. The exceptions were the few large operators who combined breeding and rearing on large farms and raised thousands of ducklings a year.

Keeping and protecting the Aylesbury duck before market was an exhausting profession. The ducks themselves would not be allowed to sit on their eggs, but hens would be used instead. It took 28 days for an egg to hatch and during the last week the rearer would sprinkle the eggs every day with water. This softened their shells, making the duckling's entry into the world easier.

When they were hatched, the ducklings were coddled. For the first short period they were covered with soft yellow down and looked after every moment of the day. Those that survived, due to the intense care of the women rearers, would be put into small groups of about 30 and kept indoors. 'The group feature was due to the: apparent quirk in duck psychology that they feel better and happier in small groups. Later on, the ducklings would be put outside in pens until it was time to go to market. The ducklings were fed several times a day on food which would fatten them quickly without building their bones. This high-protein diet gave them a tender flavour and kept their flesh from becoming greasy. Every bird needs grit to break up the food and make it digestible and the Aylesbury duck was given a special type of grit found at Gubblecote and Long Marston, not far from Aylesbury. Due to this grit the Aylesbury duck developed its characteristic flesh coloured bill.

Hearing about ducks in cottages does, naturally, evoke the expression about a "duck out of water". In fact, ducks were allowed to paddle in a very shallow trough but real swimming was banned in fear that the little investment might drown. The ducks were, however, given one swim in their short lives just before they were killed. This wasn't due to any softness on the part of the ducker, but rather because the swim before the slaughter helped the ducklings to feather properly, making them more saleable.

After their quick and efficient demise the ducklings were taken to market. The largest market was in London and they were taken in the early 19th century by packhorse or on wagons. One great boon to the duck industry was the railway line which was built to link

Aylesbury with the main London-to-Birmingham route. The railway company provided a total service, collecting the ducklings three times a week and taking them to the station and then on the train to London. the railway would then collect the money from the market and give the duckers their portion, less the cost of transport and commission. Few ducklings were actually sold in Aylesbury, the biggest market being Smithfield to satisfy the tastes of the growing wealthy classes. The phenomenon of the bourgeoisie in the latter 19th century expanded the market even further.

Although even today people talk of the "Aylesbury Duck" it was more than a century ago that the duck industry began to spread out-side Aylesbury to the surrounding villages, most prominently Weston Turville and Haddenham. Villages in Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire also took up the trade leaving only a few duckers actually in the town of Aylesbury by the 1890s. This decline was due in part to the crowded and unsanitary conditions in "Duck End".

The soil eventually became contaminated, causing an outbreak of "Duck Fever".

The Duck industry was then taken up in other parts of the country, most notably Lancashire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The passing of the pure Aylesbury Duck occurred in the 1870s. In 1873 the Pekin Duck was brought to Britain and America from China. It, too, was a white duck and was a prolific layer. The ducklings at nine-weeks old were as plump as the Aylesbury duckling and had similarly coloured flesh. The Pekin became very popular in the United States and it was found to cross well with the Aylesbury.

This fact coincided neatly with the time in the Aylesbury duck industry when in-breeding was causing the strain to become weak. At exhibitions judges began to prefer the look of the crossed Aylesbury/Pekin duck which caused more breeders to cross-breed the strains.

Local duckers in Aylesbury had become complacent, keeping stock ducks for as much as four years and refusing to introduce new methods such as incubation.

This negligence added to the decline, which was exacerbated by the rising costs of duck food. By the Second World War, ducking in and around Aylesbury had almost vanished and by the 1950s the pure Aylesbury duck had virtually disappeared.

But the reputation lives on; it is not unusual to hear patrons of restaurants throughout the country ask for "Aylesbury Duck".