BEI Color Genetics HELP me understand please!!

[citalk2much]

Ok so here it is my BEI trio are the only ducks I have, and they refuse to go out on the snow so there is no way this is a mutt, the ducks come from an outstanding breeder. last year some blues hatched no biggy I did not hatch them another BYC member did I shipped her the eggs, well this is my first hatch and here is the result

so a what color is that duckling and how and how come?

if it helps here are the parents

 

[shelleyb1969]

That color would be....

G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S!

Is he available?

Sorry, girl...I just couldn't resist.

Please forgive me.

But I am gonna watch and see who responds to this.

 

[citalk2much]

lol he is marked like a she and what adult color do you think she will be she looks like butterscotch icecream topping now to sweet

 

[citalk2much]

I sent info to a breeder and he called it a "sport" what dose that mean and how bad is it?

 

[shelleyb1969]

Quote:
I think that by "sport", he means it's a non-recognized color of a breed resulting from the mating of two "correctly colored" birds? Actually, in chickens, there are several varieties that were developed with "sports". I wouldn't consider it bad...she just isn't "show quality".

You know what?...I don't show birds

...and I love me some butterscotch ice cream topping!

 

[citalk2much]

I got this today from a breeder so it has answered my questions

A sport is simply a mutation- it is not necessarily bad. The blue East Indies are also a mutation and it could be that there will be more mutations that come out of those matings. If you like the looks of the sport, you can try to continue it. If you don't, simply do not reproduce it. I warn you though, that those parents may well throw more sport ducklings which is quite common. The ducklings in the picture may well turn out to be a different shade of blue or a so called "silver" which often comes out of blues.

So Shelley you still want the little one? I would like to wait until the one the hens are sitting on hatch, if there is another butterscotch do you want it too?​

 

[shelleyb1969]

Hi Crystal!

That's very interesting about the color mutations.

I'd definitely love to get your butterscotch babies. And if you don't get another butterscotch, then silver or blue would be cool, too.

But I've only got room for a trio. I want the little fellas for Logan...he loves ducks.

We had call ducks, silkie ducks, and black runners last year, but I sold them all...I just didn't have a winter set-up for them.

 

[citalk2much]

sounds good! are going to try and breed the color?

 

[CityChicker]

I would bet you those are going to be girls. You have no other ducks on your property? None? Really, not even in a different cage? It would be beyond unusual to get two different colors of sports from one pair of birds. Sports are also not that common either. Maybe for a large commercial breeder, but not for a private individual with a few ducks. The hatchery I am working with gets a couple different types of naturally occurring mutations, the most frequent one pops up in about 1 in 500. Some of the other mutations seem to pop up in about 1 in 2000, so they are not at all common. Of course, once you get two birds that just happen to have some unnamed recessive gene, you could get sports regularly.

Without knowing more, there is no telling what you are seeing. It would help to know if you or the original breeder had any other ducks? If so, how long have they been alone? (Actually, now that I typed that I just looked back and it says you have no other ducks and have had these since last year, which makes it even more strange!). Do you have pictures of the babies from last year and what they looked like when mature? You should *not* be able to get a blue duck from two black ducks because blue is incompletely dominant. Keep in mind though, all mallard derived colors are the result of naturally occurring mutations that have popped up here and there. Blue, for the most part though, should always show in the bird's phenotype, so I have no explanation for how you got blue last year if you have no other ducks (unless it had been from the hen still being fertile last year from a previous mating).

Going back to these babies, they look like they are carrying sex-linked brown dilution. That will turn a black duck to chocolate or a dusky to Khaki (which look almost identical to your ducklings). If you do not have any ducks that carry brown (male Campbell, male Chocolate Runner, etc..) then your male BEI must be heterozygous for sex-linked recessive brown (d/d). This would be *highly* unusual for a *pure* BEI, but anything is possible. Of course as has been noted, it could be something completely different like a new mutation. Seriously though, and I don't mean to sound rude (really I don't), but two different colors of sports from the same group of birds *highly* suggests mixes, regardless of who the breeder was.

 

[bigstack]

You have to love mother nature! she can change her mind about anything in a split second. wether it be the color of a duck or chicken to the weather. Pure bred or not, Sport happens!

He is soooooo CUTE!!!!!

God Bless!