Anyone good at genetics?

[Fraoch21]

We have 5 five week old ducklings from our own ducks and I'm quite confused as to what they are crosses off. The ducklings are very dark brown-pretty much black- with white bibs, dark legs and beak and are large table sized birds. The thing is we have no dark drakes apart from a black indian runner drake (and it cant be him-long story). So how did we end up with really dark ducklings? Something to do with the parents carrying dark genes maybe?

So the ducks and drakes we have that they could be from aree;

Drakes;
White Campbell
Saxony
Muscovy?

Ducks;
White Campbell
Saxony
Muscovy?
Khaki Campbell
Rouen(home bred mix of pekin x khaki campbell-she just looks like a rouen)

The eggs the ducklings came from were large white eggs so that kinda rules out the muscovy ducks. We thought the mum was the rouen(mix) but that leaves the dad unknown and i never saw the muscovy drake treading our other ducks.

BTW this is purely out of interest and i dont mind what the ducklings actually are, they're too cute

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Khakis are hatched a dark drab olive brown, not knowing the backgrounds of the ducks will result in any and all surprises of colors.

 

[70%cocoa]

I'd say that your White Campbell drake or duck is one of the parents of all of the dark brown ones. White hides other colours, so I'd expect that one or both of your white ducks is carrying black. These dark brown ducklings have at least one dose of Black and one dose of Chocolate (the chocolate most likely coming from your Khaki Campbell duck and/or your White Campbell duck).

Your Saxonies are unlikely to be the parents - if they were the ducklings would be blue.

Any pics?

I bet they're gorgeous.

 

[Fraoch21]

Thank you for the replies, since i dont know our ducks histories i'll just be a guessing game. And i ddint know white hid other colours so thank you for explaining that

I'll get some pictures of them up later today

 

[Fraoch21]

Some pictures as promised

I was thinking of letting them out in their hut and small run full time now since up untill now they've been in a shed with a heat lamp if its cold. Im hoping they've got enough adult feathers now

 

[70%cocoa]

Not sure what your temps are in the Scottish Highlands at the moment but as long as it stays above freezing at night and they have shelter from wind and rain then I'd say they'd be fine without heat.

I'm sticking with my original suggestion of your white Campbells being the most likely parents, with a possible Khaki in the parental mix as well. The duckling at the back right looks quite black and has a lovely bib that most Swedish ducks would envy!

 

[Miss Lydia]

They sure are pretty!

 

[Makenzie]

If anybody has a clue as to just what kind of duckling I have, I'd appreciate knowing myself. I know the smaller one is a rouen. The larger one I was told is a jumbo pekin which confused me because I thought pekin's were white. This duckling only has white on the tip of the wings. Brooder lamp makes everything look red but the bill and feet are black/pink and the color around the neck is orangish. It is also twice the size, at least, of the rouen.

For some reason the little one has started chasing the larger one around biting at it's neck and wings. Not just nibbling like I've seen them do, but actually tugging at baby duck down and trying to pull it out. They scream nonstop if I attempt to keep them apart but I'm concerned at how the larger one just stands there and takes whatever the smaller one dishes out with no attempt to defend itself or go on the attack. Is this normal? Have not been with me for even a week yet and it's the 1st I've seen this behavior.

 

[70%cocoa]

Your bigger duckling is Blue Bibbed in colour (like a Blue Swedish) but without knowing the parentage I personally wouldn't give it a breed name. The yellow patch on the front will go start to white when he's about 5-6 weeks old. He may end up with white flight feathers on the end of his wings (but not all ducklings with yellow wing tips end up with white adult wing feathers). Your duckling didn;t hatch from two Pekins (which, as you say, are white). Theoretically at least it is not possible for two white birds to produce anything other than white offspring. So I'd say that a non-white bird snuck in there somehow.

I'd say that you want to prevent that pecking behaviour asap. It becomes a habit and will be a problem with proper feathers start coming through (ducklings biting at growing wing feathers can lead to angel wing).

How much space do they have at the moment and do they have things to keep them busy, like finely chopped greens in a small dish of water to dabble in? What kind of feed are you using (at time feed that is too low in protein can be associated with feather pecking but it is more likely to be a boredom issue than a diet issue).

The light that you are using could also be contributing to the problem. I have been told by very experienced breeders that a ceramic heat emitter (that puts out heat but no light) reduces the likelihood of problem behaviour like feather picking. I am not sure why, but personally I'd only ever use a heat emitter and not a light. So you could give that a go if you have access to a non-light emitting heater. The other option is to divide the brooder with some mesh so that the ducklings can still sit together but not bite.

Let us know ho you go.

And your ducklings are both totally gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Fraoch21]

Thank you, I put the babies out all night last night and today and they're doing great