colors of call ducks

[adorable]

I was wondering if i can breed one color with a different color. Do i have to keep them all whites with whites and greys with greys.?Or can i go white with greys and see what happens. Or it isnt a good idea?

 

[1lpoock]

You could do that you just won't get pure offspring, they will be mutts. If you can keep them seperate, that is great because most people want pure call ducks. Just by breeding white to grey will not make a grey pied bird. However, you can crossbreed with another breed if you are trying to better the traits on the original breed. You have to know the genetics behind this to do it though, hopefully someone will chime in.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I heard gray x white makes snowy offspring.

 

[CityChicker]

No, they won't be mutts and no, Grey x White does not make Snowy. There is no way to know for sure what you will get without knowing the history of the white bird (and to some extent the Grey as well). White in ducks is recessive and basically masks all other colors when homozygous (resulting in a white bird). If the white bird only has Grey in its' genetic background, you would get all Grey in the first generation cross (F1 generation). When you breed those birds together, you would get 75% Grey and 25% White (F2 generation). 1/3 of the Greys would not carry White genetically, 2/3 would.

Of course, a lot of birds anymore can be carrying other recessive genes (Snowy can be another for example, li^h or harlequin phase.) and as I said, white is also a masking color. You have to sometimes do test crosses to see what you get if you don't know the history of the birds. The percentages I mentioned above though are the basic frequencies you get when you cross a dominant trait to a recessive trait. We all have a tendency to assume that when you mix two colors, you will get a blending of the colors, but that is not how it works (with a recessive trait, it can work in other situations like with an incompletely dominant trait). HTH.

 

[adorable]

They are still call ducks. I am not mixed with one kind to another. Just the colors. I guess it wouldnt hurt to do it...As they are loved no matter what color.Thanks citychicker. YOu make alot of sense. It reminds me breeding different color of silkies. Where you dont know what is behind the white if you are to use him with a different color. All the same concept.

 

[phantom1]

hi we are new and starting out on our calls, how do you breed for colors like ie chestnut, nutmeg, apricot or any other color than the basic colors? is there a book or a website that I can look at or buy that will tell me this? thanks for your help

 

[phantom1]

No, they won't be mutts and no, Grey x White does not make Snowy. There is no way to know for sure what you will get without knowing the history of the white bird (and to some extent the Grey as well). White in ducks is recessive and basically masks all other colors when homozygous (resulting in a white bird). If the white bird only has Grey in its' genetic background, you would get all Grey in the first generation cross (F1 generation). When you breed those birds together, you would get 75% Grey and 25% White (F2 generation). 1/3 of the Greys would not carry White genetically, 2/3 would.

Of course, a lot of birds anymore can be carrying other recessive genes (Snowy can be another for example, li^h or harlequin phase.) and as I said, white is also a masking color. You have to sometimes do test crosses to see what you get if you don't know the history of the birds. The percentages I mentioned above though are the basic frequencies you get when you cross a dominant trait to a recessive trait. We all have a tendency to assume that when you mix two colors, you will get a blending of the colors, but that is not how it works (with a recessive trait, it can work in other situations like with an incompletely dominant trait). HTH.

hi we thought by reading your article that you may be able to help we are new to call duck breeding and was looking for a book or literature that would help in the breeding of a call duck ie like nutmeg, dalmation, lilac etc.. i looked on internet and i may be typing in wrong question to locate how to try and genetically breed for these guys since spring is coming. thanks

 

[Senna95]

Get "Story's Guide to Raising Ducks" (Dave Holderread) or Colour Breeding in Domestic Ducks (Ashton). They both have good information on color breeding.