Black bibbed duckling with brown splashes?

[HollowOfWisps]

I have a black bibbed Hookbill duckling who definitely hatched black bibbed (hatched from my flock), but he had these very small patches of almost a very dark chocolate down on his chest that were only noticable if you were really looking for them in natural light. I just assumed that the down was a lighter shade of black because down can sometimes be different shades variants then when they get adult feathers they feather in a solid color. I figured once he lost his down everything was going to grow in solid black. Well he is starting to feather in and that down is now dusky/nutmeg adult feathers. I only have two adult drakes one is a Golden Snowy and the other was a nutmeg/dusky mallard. Mom is black bibbed. I'm curious for the genetic expert's what's happening here? I'm assuming my golden snowy drake is the dad throwing some sort of splash gene?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Maybe @ColtHandorf, @Pyxis or @The Moonshiner (though he's a chicken guy) would know

 

[The Moonshiner]

@Conan @WVduckchick @shawluvsbirds ???

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I have no clue about the genetics behind it, but I know I've had a black bibbed call duck that had a brown patch.

 

[Pyxis]

Extended black is only incompletely dominant, so it is not unusual to get a duck with only one copy having 'bleedthrough' of the mallard base pattern. Either of those fathers would result with the duckling only having one copy of E, so there you go

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Extended black is only incompletely dominant, so it is not unusual to get a duck with only one copy having 'bleedthrough' of the mallard base pattern. Either of those fathers would result with the duckling only having one copy of E=+, so there you go

Thank you that makes perfect sense!

 

[Quacking Pigeon]

I have a black bibbed Hookbill duckling who definitely hatched black bibbed (hatched from my flock), but he had these very small patches of almost a very dark chocolate down on his chest that were only noticable if you were really looking for them in natural light. I just assumed that the down was a lighter shade of black because down can sometimes be different shades variants then when they get adult feathers they feather in a solid color. I figured once he lost his down everything was going to grow in solid black. Well he is starting to feather in and that down is now dusky/nutmeg adult feathers. I only have two adult drakes one is a Golden Snowy and the other was a nutmeg/dusky mallard. Mom is black bibbed. I'm curious for the genetic expert's what's happening here? I'm assuming my golden snowy drake is the dad throwing some sort of splash gene?


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I was gonna say Calico (Ca) of being a possibility, but it doesn’t look like any particular phase or dilution of Mallard so maybe not.