Editorial photo #10066344 Human Interest

White Pekin

The Pekin or White Pekin is an American breed of domestic duck, raised primarily for meat. It derives from birds brought to the United States from China in the nineteenth century and is now bred in many parts of the world. It is often known as the American Pekin and it was included in the first edition of the Standard of Perfection, published in 1874 by the new American Poultry Association. Many of these ducks were reared on Long Island, New York, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, from which the breed derived its name Long Island Duck. On average, Pekin ducks lay between 200 to 300 extra-large white eggs annually. A poultry farm in India is breeding Pekin birds in a natural environment along the Jalangi River bank surrounded by nets, which is quite different from the American environment, at Tehatta, West Bengal; India on 20/05/2023. (Photo by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto)