Brown/yellow ducklings~2-mo-old~new pic added~

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Surprise to me! The white with black markings (pied, possibly Magpie, possibly just poorly marked black Swedish) pair last year only hatched more Pied (like the parents) offspring.
This year, their first hatchlings are white with the same pied markings but some are brown instead of black. I just now moved them from hatcher to brooder. The brown is a surprise to me because the ducklings hatched consistently 'white / black pied' last year.
Ideas? There should be no *possibility* of a cross from these eggs (to my Pekins or Swedish, and my Muscovy haven't even thought 'mating thoughts' yet.).

Lisa

 

[CityChicker]

Do you have pictures? I am guessing that what you are seeing is chocolate and white. Chocolate in the Mallard-derived breeds is just Black combined with the sex-linked recessive Brown. All this means is that one of your Black drakes is recessive for Brown. I have seen a couple other people have brown pop up in their extended black ducks rather randomly, so it is not too out of the norm, especially if they may have Ancona in their background. Those brown ducklings should end up being hens.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Thanks! Here is one of the new ones (more loading):

There are four of those browny ones, a black with yellow, and a yellow with just a bit of black markings (all from the 'Pied' pair), and a crested Pekin.

Maybe the buyer will back out when she sees they are brown and I'll have to keep them, hahaha.
...

Oh! This is an old pic of one of the 'Pied' parents:

 

[FenDruadin]

Oooo... that is PRETTY. And that sure looks magpie to me. But what is that little one in the background--I can only see the top of its head, but it has black (or brown?) spots on its crown. It almost looks ancona, but of course I can only see that tiny bit of it.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Thanks! This is that one:

Lisa

 

[FenDruadin]

Gorgeous! I posted before you added the additional pics. Definitely looks ancona to me--so does the adult in the picture with the white cresteds. I'm not an expert, but that would be my call, and would explain the variation in offspring, though it's weird that you got all blacks last year and lots of chocolates this year.

They are unbelievably adorable and if your buyer backs out, I'll take them.

 

[Senna95]

If there's a pekin in the mix, pretty much all bets are off. The white could be hiding pretty much any genotype underneath.

And is that a crest I see on the almost-all-white one? That would prove that your crested pekins are involved.

Very cute!

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! The Pekins are penned separate from the 'Pied' pair.
It must be the camera angle, the only crested d'ling in this hatch is from a Pekin (crested x non-crested) pair.

I'll have to go back and look at Ancona ducks. I don't see them listed in the asop.

Lisa

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

They do look Ancona! But HOW CUTE!! I want one.

 

[CityChicker]

Very cute! Definitely looks like Chocolate and White, so one of your drakes must carry sex-linked recessive brown.