Blue drake over Chocolate duck?

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First, I'll assume that the birds are not split for any other colors. There are genes that take two copies to show in a bird -- these are called autosomal recessive. There are also genes that take two copies to show in a male, but only one in a female -- these are called sex-linked recessive, because while they are recessive, they are located on the sex-chromosomes. Males have sex chromosomes in a pair (two Z's), while females have one of one kind, and one of another (ZW). But...like I said...let's just assume (for now) that your birds are what you see, without being split to a different color/pattern.

"Blue" results from a Black bird having one copy of the Blue gene. This gene is called an Incomplete Dominant, because having one copy changes the appearance from the wild-type (the "dominant" part), and having two copies changes the appearance even more (the "incomplete" part). Ducks with two copies of the Blue gene are called Silver.

OK, so your Blue drake is basically Black with one copy of the Blue gene. This means that he can give either the chromosome WITH the Blue gene, or the chromosome WITHOUT the Blue gene, to his offspring. Your Black duck doesn't have the Blue gene, so this chromosome has the same gene (wild-type, or "Non-Blue") in both copies.

Blue Drake X Black Duck = 50% Blue, 50% Black offspring. There will be no statistical difference between males and females.


Sorry that's a long-winded answer to your question, but I'm also responding to your statement of being confused. I'm hoping I explained things better for you.

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First, I'll assume that the birds are not split for any other colors. There are genes that take two copies to show in a bird -- these are called autosomal recessive. There are also genes that take two copies to show in a male, but only one in a female -- these are called sex-linked recessive, because while they are recessive, they are located on the sex-chromosomes. Males have sex chromosomes in a pair (two Z's), while females have one of one kind, and one of another (ZW). But...like I said...let's just assume (for now) that your birds are what you see, without being split to a different color/pattern.

"Blue" results from a Black bird having one copy of the Blue gene. This gene is called an Incomplete Dominant, because having one copy changes the appearance from the wild-type (the "dominant" part), and having two copies changes the appearance even more (the "incomplete" part). Ducks with two copies of the Blue gene are called Silver.

OK, so your Blue drake is basically Black with one copy of the Blue gene. This means that he can give either the chromosome WITH the Blue gene, or the chromosome WITHOUT the Blue gene, to his offspring. Your Black duck doesn't have the Blue gene, so this chromosome has the same gene (wild-type, or "Non-Blue") in both copies.

Blue Drake X Black Duck = 50% Blue, 50% Black offspring. There will be no statistical difference between males and females.
Made fine sence. I just had to read it 2 times. Lol. Thanks!

Sorry that's a long-winded answer to your question, but I'm also responding to your statement of being confused. I'm hoping I explained things better for you.

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I should have added one thing -- what an "autosome" is. OK, I assume you know what chromosomes are. And I described what the sex-chromosomes are. Well, "autosomes" are all the chromosomes EXCEPT the pair we call sex-chromosomes.

So, to repeat, there are two basic kinds of chromosomes -- sex-chromosomes, and autosomes. Males have 2 Z's for their sex-chromosomes, and females have 1 Z and 1 W for their sex-chromosomes. All the other chromosomes (besides Z and W) are called autosomes, and both males and females have them all in matched pairs.

Understand?

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That's my site. Sorry for the confusion. "Incomplete dominant" is what I should have used. It was quickly thrown together. I should really put a disclaimer on there. They explained it much better here (so glad I'm not a teacher. Can't speak what I'm thinking)


P.S. For my own clarification, the black/blue/silver in ducks has the same inheritance as black/blue/splash in chickens correct? And when people refer to birds as "split" for a trait, it is another word for heterozygous, right?

P.P.S. ArrgH! Another question, sorry to steal the thread.
What's the phenotypic difference between the blue-chocolate and silver-chocolate? Would they both LOOK like the same color? Did you have any idea the inheritance of the tricolor? I didn't see anything in Storey's Guide about it. They do differentiate between Muscovies colors and Mallard-der. colors so does this translate between the two equally?
 
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I've been learning about colors in Muscovies because that's the species I wish to (eventually) keep. But when I was checking back through my references, I noticed that some genes are homologous between the species -- meaning the gene for Blue in Muscovies is the same as the gene for Blue in mallard-derived breeds. There are a number of genes that weren't homologous, but the ones mentioned in this discussion are.

Yes, Black/Blue/Silver corresponds to Black/Blue/Splash in chickens. Strangely, in turkeys, they call the birds with one copy of the Blue gene "Splash" or "Slate", and birds with two copies of the Blue gene are called "Self-Blue" or "Lavender", but that's another species entirely.

"Split" refers to heterozygotes, yes, but generally is applied only to heterozygotes for a RECESSIVE mutation. It implies that "yeah, what you see is the dominant gene, but there is an unseen recessive gene." In cases of incomplete dominance (as with Blue), "split" isn't really accurate, since both genes show (Black as opposed to mallard pattern, and then one copy of Blue which dilutes the black). People do refer to "split white" in birds where white is an incompletely dominant gene, but I think that's more to differentiate between "true pied" which is usually an autosomal recessive gene with a slightly similar phenotype (meaning, "split white" and "homozygous for recessive pied" will both show white patches, but the patches are usually in different patterns).

Blue-Chocolate (called "Blue-Fawn" in Muscovies) and Silver-Chocolate (called "Lilac" in Muscovies) do look different in Muscovies, but since I haven't seen pictures of them in Mallard-derived breeds, I can't say for sure. In Muscovies, in terms of dark to light, the colors go Black --> Blue --> Lavender (separate gene, autosomal recessive) --> Silver. Adding Brown modifies the black pigment do brown, but when combined with Blue gives a sort of in-between -- about Blue in terms of depth of color, but with a Brown shade infused within. And that carries down the line. The Silver-Chocolate Muscovies I've seen (in pics...) are MUCH lighter than the Blue-Chocolates. And the Lavender-Chocolates (called "Cream" in Muscovies) fit right between the two.

I don't know about the inheritance of tricolor in Anconas. I remember reading about it briefly SOMEWHERE, but again, since I decided that if/when I get ducks I'd go for Muscovies, I didn't really pay that much attention to it (sorry....I find myself researching mostly only the birds I'd actually like to keep myself eventually....I know, selfish selfish.....hehe). The "tricolors" I've seen in Muscovies confuse me. IaJewel had some pics of birds that looked like they had one row of dark brown, with one row of light brown outside that, and then patches of white. I don't know if that's a result of combining two different dilution genes with white-spotting (which would apply in Anconas), or if there's something else at play. Since I really don't like white or "pied" birds myself (sorry....just personal preference), I pretty much skimmed over anything that related to those genes (except when I went back to try and answer questions here...but I still left scratching my head).

In terms of translating phenotypes between Mallard-derived breeds and Muscovies, I think it works only when comparing how the genes work in Black-based mallards (as opposed to "gray" or wild-type patterns), since Muscovies are basically solid-colored and Mallards have a sexually dimorphic pattern in the wild-type. So if you see how the Blue gene works in a gray mallard, you can't really expect to find the same phenotype in a Muscovy. Does that make sense?

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