Ancona duckling hatched completely yellow, now changing color?

[Duck Diva]

I’ve seen from other posts that it is possible for anconas to be completely white. Here is my question:

What is going on with this duckling? Totally yellow when hatched,? Now feathering out darker from the tail forward. Is this a mutation or normal color

Background information: parents are black/white Anconas. One of the females may have had a mallard boyfriend (scandal)!

I’ll try to post better pictures of the interesting colors on its’ backside. Any ideas?

 

[Isaac 0]

@Pyxis

 

[Rocky1028]

That's interesting, yours may be a silver (although it appears to look more blue). Most silvers are hatched all yellow with a few darker spots so that could be why yours is starting to change colors all of a sudden. And since you mention both parents to be black and white, it's possible that they both carried a dilute gene since it would be hidden by the dominant gene (black).
Whatever color he ends up being, he sure is cute!

 

[Duck Diva]

That's interesting, yours may be a silver (although it appears to look more blue). Most silvers are hatched all yellow with a few darker spots so that could be why yours is starting to change colors all of a sudden. And since you mention both parents to be black and white, it's possible that they both carried a dilute gene since it would be hidden by the dominant gene (black).
Whatever color he ends up being, he sure is cute!

Thanks for advice (and for the compliment) If it is dilute silver, does that mean it’s a boy? I’m not an expert on duck genetics yet! Here is a closer look at those tail feathers coming in:

 

[TomCahalan]

And since you mention both parents to be black and white, it's possible that they both carried a dilute gene since it would be hidden by the dominant gene (black).

Black is not epistatic to the dilution genes. In fact, it makes the dilution genes more noticeable. Both the blue and chocolate genes are named for how they modify what would otherwise be a black duck.

 

[Pyxis]

That's interesting, yours may be a silver (although it appears to look more blue). Most silvers are hatched all yellow with a few darker spots so that could be why yours is starting to change colors all of a sudden. And since you mention both parents to be black and white, it's possible that they both carried a dilute gene since it would be hidden by the dominant gene (black).

When you say silver, I assume you're in the US and talking about the Silver that is two copies of the blue dilution gene, and not Silver in the way that the UK uses it.

Silver is a result of two copies of the incompletely dominant blue dilution gene. Being dominant, it's not possible for a duck to be carrying this gene without expressing it. So in order for the duckling to be silver, both of the parents would have had to have been at least blue, not black. So we can rule Silver out.

As for what color the little one will be, I'd like to see more pictures as it grows up It almost looks possibly like Appleyard, with Restricted Mallard having caused the black down to show only on the tail and a little on the head. That would be interesting.

 

[Rocky1028]

Black is not epistatic to the dilution genes.

So in order for the duckling to be silver, both of the parents would have had to have been at least blue, not black. So we can rule Silver out.

Wow, I never never knew that. I was always told by breeders that black often hid dilute. I guess I should always do my research before trusting something. Thanks for clarifying

 

[TomCahalan]

Wow, I never never knew that. I was always told by breeders that black often hid dilute. I guess I should always do my research before trusting something. Thanks for clarifying

Glad to help, I learned it all from Pyrix's guide: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/mallard-derived-duck-color-genetics-basics.74277/

Black drakes can carry a single recessive chocolate, but that isn't really hiding, in the way that white can hide anything.

To my understanding, black can hide the effects of two genes:

The gene that determines whether a duck is dusky, standard mallard, or restricted mallard (appleyard head). It doesn't fully hide this gene though, because non-dusky ducks have bibs, whereas dusky ducks are solid.

The gene that determines whether a duck's body is gray, harlequin, or light (appleyard).

 

[Pyxis]

Glad to help, I learned it all from Pyrix's guide: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/mallard-derived-duck-color-genetics-basics.74277/

Black drakes can carry a single recessive chocolate, but that isn't really hiding, in the way that white can hide anything.

To my understanding, black can hide the effects of two genes:

The gene that determines whether a duck is dusky, standard mallard, or restricted mallard (appleyard head).

The gene that determines whether a duck's body is gray, harlequin, or light (appleyard).

Glad to read that my guide has been helpful And yes, that is correct. Black is dominant over the mallard base, so it does hide all mallard colors. Exception is dusky, because a black duck that is dusky will be self black, instead of black bibbed, so you can still tell the gene is there.

 

[TomCahalan]

Glad to read that my guide has been helpful And yes, that is correct. Black is dominant over the mallard base, so it does hide all mallard colors. Exception is dusky, because a black duck that is dusky will be self black, instead of black bibbed, so you can still tell the gene is there.

I was just coming back to edit my post, remembering the dusky.

What do you think about the sooty gene mentioned in Holderread's book? Does it exist?