Mallard x Buff Orpington Hybrid

[NathanZee]

I have several breeds of ducks, including tamed wild Mallards and Buff Orpington ducks. This spring I am planning to cross them together, and I am curious as to what colors and shape they will be? Does anyone have experience with this cross, or have knowledge of duck genetics? Here are the ducks I would like to cross, in whatever order would make the most beautiful, whether a mallard drake and buff hen, or buff drake and mallard hen. Thank you!

 

[schatze]

They are really pretty! I forgot, were they raised by a broody or hatched in a incubator?

Both. One of my broody hens moved the buried duck eggs over with her eggs and sat on them. When they didn't hatch after 3 weeks, I went to remove them, saw they were duck eggs, and I candled them because I didn't think they were fertile. Since that hen has a history of killing chicks that don't look like her, I put the eggs into the incubator, and they hatched two days later.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are beautiful

 

[NathanZee]

I'd like to follow this thread because I was hoping my snowy mallard males would mate with my snowy mallard females, but instead my one buff drake mated with all my snowy females. The ducklings hatched last week (one of my chickens incubated the eggs), and only one duckling looks anything like the parents as ducklings.

I'm excited to see how they turn out!

 

[Senna95]

Back to the original question: buff X mallard.....It is a little complicated because both the brown and buff dilutions are sex linked.

If you use a male mallard and female buff, you will get all blue fawns. Basically a mallard pattern, but with all the black diluted to a dark grey.

If you switch and use the buff male with the mallard females you will get 2 different colors: your females will be a buff mallard color, with some blue dilution ( they would only inherit one of the incompletely dominant blue dilution genes...), and the males would be blue fawn.

This is only for the first generation. After that all bets are off.

 

[Senna95]

Yes! At least in the first generation. In the second generation the "dusky" gene would start popping up (in some of your offspring) and you would lose the eye stripes on the hens, and the white collar and bib on the drakes.

 

[schatze]

I was hoping to have all snowies if I did ever plan to have ducklings (these were a surprise), but of course my one buff won out. He helps the snowy males try to mate with the pekins, but the poor things can't reach. Luckily for them all my pekins are very patient with the guys.

I actually hadn't ever seen my snowy girls mix with anyone, and I didn't think their eggs were fertile. When my chicken got up for water, I was on my way to removing the eggs when I candled them just in case. Two days later, they hatched. It was on that day when I saw Houdini (my buff) mating with Dorothy (one of my snowies). Life finds a way.

 

[schatze]

The latest. They're getting slightly better with looking in one direction while staying still. Just slightly.

 

[NathanZee]

I just looked up blue Swedish ducks, and they look just like them! How bizarre! I wonder if that's how Blue Swedish ducks cane to be? Are there snowy mallards and buff ducks in Sweden traditionally? My ducks have two different snowy mallard mothers but the same buff father.

Haha! I doubt it, because I think Swedish were bred a while before Buff ducks were around. Amazing how similar they are though!

 

[Jase 2020]

Not sure. One looks like a Blue Swedish, the other, maybe a Fawn and White Runner mix.

Here's more pictures