Okay all you duck color geneticists:
My sources of information have been Holderread and Ashton, (and of course this message board.)
According to Holderread, Silver (or snowy) is wild type, except for 2 harlequin genes. According to Ashton, "Silver" is wild type except for harlequin AND dusky.
And according to Holderread, "Harlequin" is 2 harlequin genes plus 2 dusky genes (what Ashton calls "Silver"), and Ashton says "Harlequin" is 2 harlequin genes, plus dusky, plus the brown dilution gene.
So I'm confused.....
Also, I thought the dusky gene masked or obsecured both the neck rings and the wing speculums. Both harlequin and silver have wing speculums and neck rings.
Also, Holderread says that the dusky gene is incompletely dominant, and according to Ashton, dusky is recessive. I'm inclined to believe that it is recessive because I have a duck (female) that came from pure trout runners, and it was born dark without eye stripes. She must have inherited the 2 hidden dusky genes from both parents.
The question then is: Why does Ashton say that both silver and harlequin are dusky when they don't show the dusky color traits as adults? How would the duck look different if it just had the harlequin genes, without the dusky?
Sorry about the rambling thoughts....... I'm looking forward to next year and trying some test-crosses. Have a nice day!
My sources of information have been Holderread and Ashton, (and of course this message board.)
According to Holderread, Silver (or snowy) is wild type, except for 2 harlequin genes. According to Ashton, "Silver" is wild type except for harlequin AND dusky.
And according to Holderread, "Harlequin" is 2 harlequin genes plus 2 dusky genes (what Ashton calls "Silver"), and Ashton says "Harlequin" is 2 harlequin genes, plus dusky, plus the brown dilution gene.
So I'm confused.....
Also, I thought the dusky gene masked or obsecured both the neck rings and the wing speculums. Both harlequin and silver have wing speculums and neck rings.
Also, Holderread says that the dusky gene is incompletely dominant, and according to Ashton, dusky is recessive. I'm inclined to believe that it is recessive because I have a duck (female) that came from pure trout runners, and it was born dark without eye stripes. She must have inherited the 2 hidden dusky genes from both parents.
The question then is: Why does Ashton say that both silver and harlequin are dusky when they don't show the dusky color traits as adults? How would the duck look different if it just had the harlequin genes, without the dusky?
Sorry about the rambling thoughts....... I'm looking forward to next year and trying some test-crosses. Have a nice day!
