Hi Jerryse. I am with Chickat and have always used the term Duckwing as a synonym for any wild type bird (e+) and so from my understanding it was a genetic term. The APA does not have an actual definition for the word Duckwing in their glossary and Miriam Webster defines it:
noun
Definition of DUCKWING
: Modern Game fowl having wing coverts that form a bluish black bar across the wing
Which in my mind really shouldn't be exclusive to the Modern Games, but does describe the black barring on the coverts which is what I had gone by. I had not heard of the term being used as a visual description before--you have a very keen eye to spot the difference between the Golden Leghorn as not using the word duckwing in their variety name. Ever keen to learn--could you tell me where you learned the info from--I would love a link to read more!
It seems this goes back to the discussion about what the word Cream means. Some folks like me, view it as a genetic state the manifests itself in a range of phenotypes from an off-white to rich lemony color depending on the other genetic modifiers the bird has (barring, melanizers, autosomal red, mahogany etc) and other folks think of it as strictly a color description that can be achieved through several combinations and its the color, not the genetics that are important. I hadn't thought that there were other colors that had different meanings depending on whether you are talking color or genetics. Very interesting!
I always use wild type to describe wild type . Not sure Webster knows much about SOP terms as coverts are not involved .It is the color of the secondaries . Yes I checked the SOP on page 20 to be sure and I grabbed a chicken to compare . To define Duckwing as used in the SOP look at a mallard ducks wing . See that blue green area that is Duckwing . Called the speculum on ducks .So a chicken with that area colored silver or gold as a contrasting color is called Duckwing . There is a crow wing family of colors in game also . These are Brown Red, lemon blue and Birchen . Look at the wing it is black in this area . Like a crow's wing . To distinguish between Silver and Silver Duckwing look at the hackle and saddle feathers . Clean silver in Duckwing and black stripes in the center of the feather on silver . Same for BB red and light brown . So silver , silver Duckwing , BB red and light brown all have Duckwing is only used to differentiate the clean hackle and saddle varieties . It is the same gene in both cases just different expression . Much like the range of colors in cream .
So where or how did I learn this . Well the hard way 40 + years ago while developing the Ameraucana breed . I liked silver and was responsible for its inclusion in the breed . I chose to leave the black stripe as IMO nature wanted to put it there . So I had to read the standard to find the difference . Mike Gilbert liked wheaten which does not have the stripe . I wanted light brown but the majority wanted wheaten . In hindsight I should have chosen salmon . Then they could have been crossed without issues . As it is silver can not have red shoulders and has no compatible colors to cross to .
Yes there are other colors with terminology problems . Currently we use the genetic term lavender in Ameraucana and not self blue that the APA insists on . This is a sticking point on both sides and part of the reason we have not gone for recognition on that variety .
So Ameraucana , Leghorn , Phoenix ,and Dutch bantams have silver as varieties .
