Breeding Projects -- Waterfowl

[DUCKGIRL89]

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ok so what if you introduce a new hen for new blood. do you have to start over? if not i have 1 more year and ill have my own strain of mixed

I believe if you introduce new blood, the line is no longer pure and the 5 yrs (or gen. whichever comes first) starts over.

oohh...

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

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And, I should clarify. It's actually 5 generations. (which is usually five yrs.)

So wait. I need to hatch ducklings and keep some every time for five years? If thats the case I will never have my own lines

No, it's 5 generations. What I meant is that it's usually a generation a year, so it usually will take five years.

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

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I believe if you introduce new blood, the line is no longer pure and the 5 yrs (or gen. whichever comes first) starts over.

oohh...

To prevent needing to introduce another stain, this I suggest Spiral breeding. not only will you not need new blood, but you will never have to buy another bird as long as you live! (and your children, and your children's children...)

 

[roocrazy]

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oohh...

To prevent needing to introduce another stain, this I suggest Spiral breeding. not only will you not need new blood, but you will never have to buy another bird as long as you live! (and your children, and your children's children...)

spiral breeding is like inbreeding?

 

[GrannyCarol]

Spiral breeding is a form of linebreeding, yes. I'm on my way out the door, but I'm sure you'll get a good explanation!

As for a strain or bloodline, wouldn't it have to breed true to the characteristics you want for 5 generations before you'd call it "pure" and not just a mix? Just my thought, my breeding experience is with show dogs.

I wouldn't consider my line of blue Appleyard types to be "pure" until they bred true and I understood the color genetics more and they did that for several generations.

As for being 20! when you are done... remember... you'll be 20 whether or not you breed a line of ducks. I'd say go for it, if you don't follow through, what does it matter? You've had a good time. I'm in my late 50's and breeding a line of ducks is a LOT faster than breeding a line of show dogs.

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

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To prevent needing to introduce another stain, this I suggest Spiral breeding. not only will you not need new blood, but you will never have to buy another bird as long as you live! (and your children, and your children's children...)

spiral breeding is like inbreeding?

Not quite. Inbreeding requires less then three original clans. Spriral has at least three... here's how it works...

-every time a clan breeds, discard the parents, keep the young hens in the same clan, and move the young drakes to the next clan. Always rotate in the same drection, and you'll have...

-3 clans = you're always mating cousins 6 times removed.
-4 clans = cousins 12 times removed
-5 clans = cousins 20 times removed and so on..

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

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You say you're breeding BLUE CREAM APPLEYARDS!?! That's great!

 

[xIndigoSkyx]

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She is pretty!

The Pekin must have had some harlequin and/or appleyard genes....... And your rouen may have as well, since both of those genes are (supposed to be) recessive to the wild-phase, which your rouen should have had 2 doses of.

Breeding her back to a rouen will not give you 25% that look like her. Whenever you get a white duck involved in a breeding program be prepared for a can or worms. Think of a white duck as a colorful duck, then covered up with white paint. Your pekin could be ANYTHING underneath, and breeding it to a wild type rouen will only tell you SOME of the hidden genes (ie, any of the dominant genes, which is why I suspect your rouen may have been a carrier of recessive harlequin or appleyard).

That said, it is still a great mystory how genes interact with eachother. Your pekin may have had a gene that made the normally recessive harlequin (or appleyard) gene express itsself in its offspring. If you do the same mating again, you may or may not get the same results depending on what genes the babies inherrit.

Gene expression isn't as cut-and-dry as the books would have you believe. There are very likely genes we haven't yet discovered, and lots of interactions between the genes we don't yet understand.

I didn't mean Breeding back to a rouen, I meant Breeding back to kenneth, then interbreeding the offspring. I still think it's far more likely that indigosky got an Appleyard unwhittingly sold to her as a Rouen/Pekin cross. Remember:
-If someone has an appleyard + doesn't know anything about genetics = they will probably conclude that it's a normal duck/white duck X.

Well I did sell her momma, I had gotten her mom from a friend of mine who wanted to get rid of her so I took her. She looked completely Rouen, she was one of my darkest Rouens. Or maybe Rouen welsh cross but they didn't own any wlesh.... Sigh I wish I know what she was

 

[xIndigoSkyx]

And I actually got my pekins from a very professional breeder, none of my other birds have looked like her. None. I think... Idk

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

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It's quite possible that she's part harlequin, she could have been Dusky, which is the only trait the Harlequin could have passed on to her... And it would look DARK. Did she have no facial stripes?