Thanks for feedback
I am not familar with the Golden 300' so can't really comment there. Breed-wise, they aren't Rouen bred but a mixture of a couple of breeds yes. The drake is a Saxony, & the duck is a dark Campbell type.
Colour-wise, the Saxony is light phase wild-type mallard + homozygous blue dilution (M+/M+, li/li, Bl/Bl), while the duck is a dark phase dusky (md/md, Li+, Li+, bl+/bl+). So considerable difference with the base series & phase colour/pattern genes between the two. The purpose of this mating is to get the blue dilution gene into a line of duskies so as to produce Blue & Apricot Campbells. Some unwanted colour/pattern genes introduced yes, & the use of a Dark Campbell Drake x with a Buff Orp could have saved some time, but a benefit to myself has been to see the interactions between the wild-type (M+) & dusky (md) genes. Genetically for colour the duckling should be M+/md, Li+/li, Bl/bl+ if both parents pure for respective genes. In this case, dominance looks to have favoured the wild-type M+ gene over its allele md (as per theory). And the dark phase Li+ also looks to have exerted the greater influence although this trait is more difficult to assess (for me) & some potential for variation has to be considered.
This duckling has inherited a single dose of the blue dilution gene from the Saxony drake (who has two doses) & nothing from the duck. Unfortunately, the colour doesn't show to its best in the above photos, but he is a dark silvery blue. Facial markings are quite clear & clean & I don't know that I was quite expecting this to be the case. I have found the dorsal spot markings of interest, particularly the two towards the tale end. Initially when first hatched I couldn't see any, but as he/she fluffed up they became apparent. Still, the tail end two are only just there & am wondering if some influence here from the dusky gene?
The duck (mother) is likely to be pure for the dusky gene. She is pigmented underwing & absent for eye-stripes, & around 15 ducklings bred from her & a Brown Dusky Drake (Kharki Campbell) earlier in the season where all pure duskies with no evidence of eyestripes, dorsal spots, neck rings, claret etc. She is also likely to be @ the least heterozygous for dark-phase Li+. She does has a large white patch low on her breast, but this trait hasn't expressed in any ducklings bred from her so far. It will be interesting to see just how close to Blue-Fawn the ducklings look when a little older (more to hatch in the next week or so with some luck)?
Cheers
