Barred Muscovy babies

[AlleysChicks]

Yes

would that mean the black/white are boys? Or they they just carry chocolate?

 

[Pyxis]

would that mean the black/white are boys? Or they they just carry chocolate?

They are boys, and they are carrying chocolate.

 

[AlleysChicks]

They are boys, and they are carrying chocolate.

Crapola. Well let’s hope they belong to the black and white pied male then lol

 

[Pyxis]

It’s interesting and exciting what comes out of hatching I had 3 solid white Muscovy females and never got a white duckling now I know why is it only white to white produce them?

I missed your question before! White to white will make 100% white ducklings. However, white to pied will also yield 50% white ducklings and 50% pied, and pied to pied will give 50% pied, 25% white, and 25% neither pied nor white.

 

[dotporter]

Thank you @Pyxis !!

Lots to consider and learn more about. Of course my current favourite ducklet so far is white with light brown bars, so she would be a no go if I want sex linked ducklings.

What is the different between blue and lilac? I do see various shades of grey coming in on multiple ducks, some lighter than others.

So the drake I choose doesn't have to be solid chocolate?! Just not pied. And any hen is good as long as she's not white/doesn't have white?

♡♡

White with light brown bars is probably a cream barred. Cream is silver x chocolate. Unfortunately, the one labeled as lilac isn't. He's a blue dusky. Having dusky plus chocolate can be very confusing, but is reputed to be the reason that chocolates have green sheen.

Dusky is a gene which mostly affects duckling color. In some ducklings (ie if they have two genes for dusky) it can turn the entire duckling brown no matter what the real color. In juvenile birds, the dusky shows as a brown head and a stippled chest. In some ducks the stippling is red. In others it is beige.

Beige chest is typical of wild type, ripples, and I believe chocolate ducks also get the beige. All other ducks will get the red. So, your blue duck is a blue atipico dusky.

I use the term stippling because generally, while the color can appear solid, close inspection will show that it's actually a pattern of light and dark.

 

[dotporter]

As for getting pure chocolate: You'd have to breed a chocolate drake to a chocolate hen. Yes, chocolate is sex linked, but the chocolate hen does have one chocolate gene, which is always passed to offspring. The drake can only pass one gene. So, in order to get the double gene for chocolate, you need both hen and drake to be chocolate.

A chocolate drake to a black hen will give you chocolate hens and black drakes. The hen only has, and only needs, one copy of the gene. Drakes need two.

(edit: I said the hen's gene is always passed... that is NOT quite true. If you breed a chocolate hen to a black drake, all the babies will be black with the drakes being split to chocolate. The hen passes the gene to drakes, the drake passes the gene to hens. I dunno. I'm glad I quit breeding chocolate.)

 

[Rysktal]

Thanks @dotporter !! I think I have quite a few "dusky" coloured ducks.

This one seems like a lighter version? Lol

Is this "pied"?

 

[dotporter]

lol, the dusky one is a single copy of the dusky gene, by the look of it. Dusky is incomplete dominant. Two copies means lots of red... one copy, not so much.

And, yes that is a pied duck. Neck and chest being white isn't necessarily pied. But, you have white on the tail, lower wing, and upper thighs. Plus it looks like a little under the wings.

That duck bred to a solid colored duck would likely give you a few nice solid colored ducks. I wouldn't eliminate it as a potential breeder.

 

[dotporter]

just to keep babbling: the pied duck is wild type, which are known for having more white. Not really a problem, as it can be bred out. I'd be more worried about it if he were atipico pied.

 

[Rysktal]

Thanks @dotporter again!

Well I sure have my work cut out for me figuring out which combination of ducks to keep. I have enough room for 3 or 4 over the winter. I am enjoying the rainbow of chicks, so maybe sex-linked chocolates are not for me? But I don't want boring looking birds either lol.