Colors and genetics in ducks?

[willowbirdks]

Just wondering if anyone understands how coloring works in duck genetics. We have one very lightly marked silver Ancona drake, one heavily marked black Ancona drake, one black Ancona hen, and three very heavily marked black Magpie hens. The Anconas are from a good, pure stock. The Magpies are from a friend's all B&W backyard flock, so who knows what went in there.

So far we've hatched 8 eggs... 3 silver/gray (lavender?), 1 very lightly marked but gray looking, 3 chocolate, and 1 black. How does that happen? We had so much black in the original gene pool that I'm shocked to see so little black in the offspring! We do have at least 4 more external pips in the incubator, so maybe we'll get a few more of the black. But I'm wondering where the chocolate gene comes from, how come so much silver has been expressed in these offspring, and what all is happening there?

Any idea where I can learn more about how this works? Or anyone want to add on to help me figure out what happened with these lovely sweet babies?

 

[seashoreduck]

Many duck breeds, especially ones like Welsh Harlequin are only a dozen decades old. Genetics may include dormant genes through many generations. Not only that but some ducks may not show their full colors until their first molt. I've found that their down my or may not reflect their color. For instance my buff looked like she was going to be on the lighter side but even as she gets her feathers she's getting dark. I have 2 Welsh Harlequin that are quite consistant but one very dark bird that is turning into "snow white"

 

[learycow]

I know that black is dominant so you would expect mostly black offspring. However, the black ancona drake can very well be a chocolate carrier.
Welsh are bred from crossing Khakis so they can carry chocolate as well.
The "silver" you are seeing likely isn't actually silver as you need blue genes in order for that to show. So it could be similar to how the welsh look "grayish" as ducklings.

 

[willowbirdks]

I know that black is dominant so you would expect mostly black offspring. However, the black ancona drake can very well be a chocolate carrier. 
Welsh are bred from crossing Khakis so they can carry chocolate as well.
The "silver" you are seeing likely isn't actually silver as you need blue genes in order for that to show. So it could be similar to how the welsh look "grayish" as ducklings. 

I have no Welsh to contribute chocolate genes in this case, thougn. I think PP was just trying to illustrate how they can feather out differently than the fuzzy duck stage, which come to think of it I have seen that... I do have one fully mature Ancona drake that is silver (or something gray, anyway). But I wouldn't have expected any of that to show through... What do you think? What might the currently gray ducklings feather out to be? The single black baby is undoubtedly black, and looks just like all our others did as ducklings. Very entertaining to speculate, anyway!

 

[willowbirdks]

Many duck breeds, especially ones like Welsh Harlequin are only a dozen decades old.  Genetics may include dormant genes through many generations.  Not only that but some ducks may not show their full colors until their first molt.    I've found that their down my or may not reflect their color.  For instance my buff looked like she was going to be on the lighter side but even as she gets her feathers she's getting dark.  I have 2 Welsh Harlequin that are quite consistant but one very dark bird that is turning into "snow white"

Interesting. I have no experience with WH but I do have one adult duck who feathered out with more color than he showed as a duckling... He went from yellow fuzz to what we have called silver spots all over. So that's a good point that what we're seeing now might not be permanent. It's just that all of our black ducks were black right from day one, and very few of these guys are. It's really fun to see how they come out, as we expected many more obviously black ducklings.

 

[Kathy farms]

Just wondering if anyone understands how coloring works in duck genetics. We have one very lightly marked silver Ancona drake, one heavily marked black Ancona drake, one black Ancona hen, and three very heavily marked black Magpie hens. The Anconas are from a good, pure stock. The Magpies are from a friend's all B&W backyard flock, so who knows what went in there.

So far we've hatched 8 eggs... 3 silver/gray (lavender?), 1 very lightly marked but gray looking, 3 chocolate, and 1 black. How does that happen? We had so much black in the original gene pool that I'm shocked to see so little black in the offspring! We do have at least 4 more external pips in the incubator, so maybe we'll get a few more of the black. But I'm wondering where the chocolate gene comes from, how come so much silver has been expressed in these offspring, and what all is happening there?

Any idea where I can learn more about how this works? Or anyone want to add on to help me figure out what happened with these lovely sweet babies?

This may not directly answer your question, however it gives adequate information to understand colour genetics. Here you go https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/410593/understanding-basic-colour-genetics-mallards-derivitives