Duck Breed Focus - Muscovy

[ellymayRans]

My strange duckling. This duckling was born with a mottled brown and yellow down pattern. The yellow areas are feathering in a dark brown barred (brown and white striping on the individual feathers)and the brown areas are coming in lilac. The dark stripe in the tail used to be a very small section of tipped yellow. I think it's a type of genetic mutant. Incomplete barred or a type of chimera. Chimera in that it started out as two ducklings that fused into one, a lilac and a brown barred. The crop is extremely full in the last picture, the duckling had just gorged itself on watermelon. This was one of only a few ducklings I got from Nutmeg my brown barred hen who passed from egg laying issues. She was in her first season of laying. Her eggs kept coming out odd looking, large, small, long, misshapen and whithout a shell. I thought it was just taking her longer to get into the egg laying groove. I noticed what looked like scrambled eggs mixed in with poop and that she seemed under the weather. Warm water soaks, nutradrench and antibiotics seemed to be doing the trick. Than she took a drastic turn for the worst, went down hill rapidly and was gone. Nutmeg She had a two eggs that looked viable, I put them under another girl. One hatched. What do you think? Incomplete barring or chimera?

I would say Blue Fawn/Lilac as you mentioned as they will have both blue and chocolate colors on them. Also hatch down is wild type. I have hatched both, wild type with barring, it will molt out unfortunately, and blue fawns with the chocolate head/neck/chest. Reference details regarding the colors from this site, i love their details. http://dudamobile.muscovy.us/?url=http://www.muscovy.us/home/basics#2887

 

[mpghm]

My muscovys are 14-15 weeks old. I'm planning to cull the drake before it gets too old, but would like to get a few fertile eggs before that. At what age would they typically produce viable eggs?

 

[quackingdom]

My muscovys are 14-15 weeks old. I'm planning to cull the drake before it gets too old, but would like to get a few fertile eggs before that. At what age would they typically produce viable eggs?

They start laying around six months, but there’s not telling they will go broody on their first clutch. Some of my females were never interested in setting until they were a year old. Drakes are often butchered at three or four months. But why can’t you keep the drake?

 

[Welshies]

Hello everyone, can a few people judge this breeding pair for me...?
I may be picking them up to start a Scovy and Buff (for laying only though, don't want mules) flock. What colors should come out of this pair?

 

[Ren2014]

@learycow
@txcarl1258
@TherryChicken

Will these babies with the colored heads turn out with white heads? The drake is a White headed black pied. Hen is a blue pied.
Can you tell the colors these babies will be??

Thank you all and anyone who would like to reply

 

[learycow]

@learycow @txcarl1258 @TherryChicken Will these babies with the colored heads turn out with white heads? The drake is a White headed black pied. Hen is a blue pied. Can you tell the colors these babies will be?? Thank you all and anyone who would like to reply

Yes. Chances are they will have white heads as it's a dominant trait

 

[ellymayRans]

@learycow @txcarl1258 @TherryChicken Will these babies with the colored heads turn out with white heads? The drake is a White headed black pied. Hen is a blue pied. Can you tell the colors these babies will be?? Thank you all and anyone who would like to reply

From the reading I've done i believe the white head trait is identified by a white dot near either eye.

 

[ellymayRans]

Hello everyone, can a few people judge this breeding pair for me...?
I may be picking them up to start a Scovy and Buff (for laying only though, don't want mules) flock. What colors should come out of this pair?

black X chocolate = 100% black ducklings, drakelets will be chocolate carriers.

That is of course assuming neither have hidden genetics.

 

[Welshies]

black X chocolate = 100% black ducklings, drakelets will be chocolate carriers.

That is of course assuming neither have hidden genetics.

And will chocolate show up in those babies?

 

[ellymayRans]

And will chocolate show up in those babies?

Any drake from this pairing will carry the chocolate gene, if that drake is then paired back to say it's chocolate mom then that offspring should produce some chocolates. So if the black drake you show in the pick is carrying the chocolate then this pair could provide the same.