Ancona Ducks

[DUCKGIRL89]

Oh so many pretty ancona pictures

Im gonna be getting a pretty blue ancona drake from AuroraSprings hopefully this year

Would it be to gross to keep a hen that I hatch from my pair to breed back to dad?

Kitchengirl: your boys beautiful no matter what

 

[m.kitchengirl]

Kitchengirl: your boys beautiful no matter what

Thanks Duckgirl. I agree, I love him regardless, but do want to have some barometer for his breed type, and to better the breed if I am going to keep a drake. There are so few Anconas, I don't want to be breed ducks that are not a good representation of the breed. I think he is a very nice looking duck, but I know that there are a lot of folks who know a lot more, and I want to know what to work on with my trio to improve the lines.​

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Hows this! Hes WAY better marked then my hen! She almost looks like a mismarked magpie, but her feet and bill markings give it away...

I think you have much better lines then some start out with. Im hopeing this drake I get from aurora springs is better marked then mine is

that way they will (hopefully) have ok marked babies!

Hey does anyone know where cackle hatchery is located? I think my hen came from there, she has a very small crest

 

[AuroraSprings]

I will make suggestions, but FIRST and FOREMOST, I recommend buying Dave Holderread's Ancona Breed Standard book. Until you read and interpret it yourself, you can't be sure what you're doing. Also, buy "Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks" unless you have a firm grasp of waterfowl color/pattern genetics.


m.kitchengirl: From what I understand of the standard and from what I can see in the picture. I'd say he's a pretty good representative. He has nice, splotchy markings - ie. genetically E/e, whereas Magpie-type patterns are E/E. Also, he looks to be a sturdy, heavy, wide boy which is a plus. Remember this is a dual purpose breed, the males need to big and muscled enough to make a good roaster. Lastly, he has markings on his face - under his eyes, on his chest, on his feet, and none on the neck, this is good. The only addition to his color you'd want to see is spots on the bill. Overall, he looks like a nice boy. calm temperament and good foraging skills also weigh heavily but I can't judge that based on a photo.

Per Dave Holderread, the colors are defined as:

Black/White - E/E (magpie type pattern), E/e (wildly-marked pattern)

It is understood that the ideal Ancona pattern is achieved with the E/e variant so I will only refer to it with the rest of the colors, though the double-E is possible in all. Also, we are only discussing colors not patterns so I've left off the rest of the genetics dealing with pattern.

Chocolate/White - E/e, d/d (dark brown w/ green sheen) OR E/e, d/d, bu/bu (light brown, no green sheen, rare)

Blue/White - E/e, Bl/bl

Lavender/White - E/e, Bl/Bl, d/d

(Lavender is therefore Blue and Chocolate acting together)

Silver/White - E/e, Bl/Bl
(Similar to the Black,Blue, Splash relationship in chickens)


"Because the best-marked individuals carry a single extended black gene, blacks and blues (especially the drakes) often have a reddish-brown shading in the colored portions of their plumage. This "rust" is a fault in all other patterns, but is a characteristic of the broken pattern." [Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks; Dave Holderread]

ToadBriar: This rusting referred to above is what your lavender drake is exhibiting. That's why you see the brown showing up. True tri-colors have specific feathers that are solidly colored (distinct from birth). I would like to use your photo on my website to demonstrate rusting if possible. I can't get any good photos of mine to show. PM me and let me know if that's alright.

Here's a few examples of tri-colors.:

Adult Duck

Duckling - in the front-center you can see a blue baby with a black spot on its tail

Same duckling as young drake

I have yet to figure out what's going on genetically with tri-colors and therefore how to breed for it, but I'm hoping to hear back from Dave H. before next Spring.

Hope all of this helps explain things a bit better. If not, well thank goodness I didn't go into teaching, LOL. I know my website has photos and more information, but it's inaccurate at the moment. I need to tweak it. It's still a good reference for the colors though. If ANYONE can get that "beetle green" sheen to show up in a photo, PLEASE let me use it on my site. I know it can be done, since I've seen good photos of Cayugas, but my camera is terrible and shows nothing.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Kristy, how well marked is your blue drake? The one I want

 

[toadbriar]

Ah but see the dark patch under his wing feather? I know he's rusted but there's the dark bit on his back as well. Here he is as a baby, with a weird color dapple

His father is a blue that carries chocolate. I do wonder if the rusting is associated with carrying chocolate. The blue hen hasn't got a touch of rust. *edited cos I re-read the above Holderread quote...
Whoops hit post too soon. So if rusting is a characteristic of the broken pattern, should it be considered a fault, or not?

And another thought. tricolor reminds me of the merle coat pattern in dogs and other animals. I wonder if you breed a tricolor drake to a tricolor hen, will the eggs be viable? cos doubling it up causes all manner of birth defects in other species.

 

[AuroraSprings]

Can you get any photos of the back spot now?

The rusting isn't a fault, just par for the course. If we can breed away from it to lessen it's appearance, then YAH! If not, no big deal.

I literally know nothing about the tricolor gene's mode of inheritance or how it is even possible. I got the original tricolor hen and she's only produced the one blue/black drake. I still have her and while she's not a huge producer (must be at least 3 years old now), I want to duplicate her pattern. Just haven't figured out how.

 

[toadbriar]

I'll get pics tomorrow morning when it's light, and I have a wing-holder assistant

(and I'll get pics of the night pen for you Steven!)

edited to add, here is a link on the merle gene in dogs, just as a curiosity/comparison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merle_(dog_coat)

 

[StevenW.]

m.kitchengirl - I'm likin your're drake very much! He looks nicely colored and even white and color ratio.
Anconas aren't a recognized breed so there's no standard for them. What you really want to do is cull your flock of the heavily pied individuals.

As in cull I mean sell them to someone for just pond ducks and etc.

 

[StevenW.]

From this past summer.
No longer with us, sadly.