Ancona Ducks

[ChristineR]

Yes. If he is silver you would get 100% Blue. Keep in mind that Lavender can look kinda like blue, so I would say keep the babies until they feather and look at the boys VS the girls. If the girls seems to have more of a brown tint to them, then I would say he is Lilac. If they all look the same, I would say he is Silver.

There are pictures here of each color. Maybe that will help you. http://worthitfarms.jigsy.com/ancona-colors

I had all the other colors at one point and it was easier to tell by comparison. Lavender and blue I can tell apart without any problem; it's the very light lilac and silver that I have a hard time telling apart. Also, this particular drake is very sparsely marked, so there aren't any big blocks of color that would make it more obvious. I sold my lilac drake; if I still had him, it would make it easier to compare. Oh, well.

 

[ducklover87]

Sorry to just bust in to your color gene science stuff lol but I was wondering as my 4 ducklings are getting more and more feathers (they are a month old) it seems they have the same green sheen that my cayugas have in their black feathers. Do all Anconas have that? Or is there a cross somewhere?

 

[ChristineR]

Sorry to just bust in to your color gene science stuff lol but I was wondering as my 4 ducklings are getting more and more feathers (they are a month old) it seems they have the same green sheen that my cayugas have in their black feathers. Do all Anconas have that? Or is there a cross somewhere?

That's normal, it has to do with how the light reflects off of the feathers. Here's a better explanation than I can provide:

"The colors in the feathers of a bird are formed in two different ways, from either pigments or from light refraction caused by the structure of the feather.

In some cases feather colors are the result of a combination of pigment and structural colors."

Here's a link to the entire article: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/studying/feathers/color

 

[ChristineR]

Here's some more info on feather color: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/287960/black-feathers-look-green-in-sunlight-rooster

 

[ducklover87]

Thanks ChristineR them links were very informative. The science behind this is amazing! Thanks for the links

 

[monichica]

Ancona People if you can help...
I have inherited 5 Anconas and am growing quite fond of them but not being familiar with the breed specifically i have a ? about sexing. They are 7.5 weeks old which to my understanding (possibly wrong) by now i might be seeing a drake feather (if it were a drake) and i've read about the voices...can't really get a read on that..they quack..they still 'chirp' to me in their 'baby' voices when they are nervous, sometimes HONK...I'm confused! lol do i still need to give it more time (to see a drake feather?) i suppose pictures would help. Is size a true factor? 3 are slightly bigger but not by much. Any help is very appreciated. Thanks

 

[learycow]

Ancona People if you can help...
I have inherited 5 Anconas and am growing quite fond of them but not being familiar with the breed specifically i have a ? about sexing. They are 7.5 weeks old which to my understanding (possibly wrong) by now i might be seeing a drake feather (if it were a drake) and i've read about the voices...can't really get a read on that..they quack..they still 'chirp' to me in their 'baby' voices when they are nervous, sometimes HONK...I'm confused! lol do i still need to give it more time (to see a drake feather?) i suppose pictures would help. Is size a true factor? 3 are slightly bigger but not by much. Any help is very appreciated. Thanks

7.5 weeks old is still quite young. The curly drake feather usually appears around 3-4 months. (I've found it is different with each duck as some drakes develop it later than others)
And as for voice sexing, I have found that there is a period of time where they go through what I call "duck puberty", where the males and females are easy to mistake as they can (not always) make similar sounds. But by 12 weeks you should be able to tell for sure.
And size doesn't always work as you sometimes have one or two that simply hatch a day or more earlier than the rest, who will seem bigger than the rest while they grow. But that doesn't always mean its a male or a female.

 

[DxSOR25]

@eggorthechicken hey do you have any updated pics of the ducks? just wondering if any more colors are showing up on them? not sure im seeing much on the 4 yellow ones i have wiith no black markings. just wondering if youre getting any silver or lavender or anything

 

[eggorthechicken]

I took a few yesterday but I'm having trouble uploading them from my mobile. Once I can get to a place where I can use a computer...I'll try again. I have 4 and now one is showing some coloring on it's back...it's kinda grayish black but it's also the only one with a spot on it's beak. The rest are starting to get some white on them now. Their first day outside was Saturday and they had a ball so I look for them to really feather out soon since they have moved outside.

 

[eggorthechicken]

The one top left is the only one with coloring right now.