So I just hatched some eggs from my own flock for the first time in almost a decade. I had kind of a strange hatch, some eggs started hatching very early, some on time and some hatched VERY late. I guess I'm a bit rusty and probably goofed up on incubating these eggs somewhere but I've never had the hatching so spread out like that before. After most of the eggs finally hatched, there were 2 left that I was ready to throw out assuming they were failures, especially the one because it had a very small air cell compared to the others. But to my surprise they started showing signs of hatching. The one that had the small air cell, it somehow got caught up on the size. The last one to hatch was the one that had a small air cell. And even when it started hatching once again it seemed like something was wrong because when it started unzipping the egg for some reason it went in straight up on the egg instead of going around it. But I just left it to see what would happen and to my surprise it managed to straighten itself out and I didn't have to assist it with hatching. That's probably more details than necessary but it's a little interesting lol. The last one to hatch is the one with the mystery color and it's kind of like the "runt" of the group.
I hatched 2 black, 4 blue, and 1 is this mystery color. Parents were all blue swedes except for possibly 1 of the black ducklings, it's mom may possibly be one of my really old swedes, one of them is blue the other black.
Anyway, I noticed right after it came out of the egg that it was another "blue" one but it seemed lighter and almost kinda brownish (due to it having a lot of the yellow down feathers mixed in with the blue ones, the others have that too but not as much). Another thing I noticed is compared to the other blue ones this one has a very pink bill. All the other blue ones, their bills are mostly blue. There's a little bit of blue coloring in the bill but it's very light. Its feet are pretty much the same way, it has some blue coloring in the feet but it's paler than what its blue siblings have. Even though I've hatched ducklings several times before this is the first time I had one this color. I don't think I was even aware of lavender or lilac color being possible in ducks until I tried figuring out what color this duckling is. Learn new things all the time. I hatched a couple silver swedish ducklings a long time ago and they came out all white, or at least I'm pretty sure they were silvers. I ended up giving those to a friend of my dad's so idk what they looked like when they grew up.
There seems to be a lack of info/pics on these special colored ducklings. I did find https://backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com/poultry-101/self-color-ducks-lavender-and-lilac/ but those are Cayuga ducks. I'm trying to figure out what color my swede is with having the pink bill. They only have pics of the adult Cayuga ducks and their bills have solid color. I'm thinking my swede might have pink just because it's a swede, they have a little bit of yellow on and mixed in their bills, they're usually not just solid colors. As ducklings that yellow color in the bills is a more pink color. So when it grows up its bill will probably turn yellow with some pale blue color on it.
Its parents are just blue swedes afaik, however it hatched out of a green egg and I think I know which of my swedes lays the green ones though I've never seen them do it. I need to set up a camera to be sure. The one I suspect lays the green eggs I'm also not sure if she's a pure swede. She had a white bib as a duckling but lost it as she got older, and she seems a little skinnier and more upright then the other swedes I've got. I kinda wonder if she might have some Indian Runner in her cause those things seem to be traits of a Runner duck though I've never had any Runners. I did buy her from a local feed store which I think gets their ducklings, chicks, etc from Hoover Hatchery. So maybe she's got some mixed genes, if that would have anything to do with the color of this duckling.
Anyway, idk what this duckling has for grandparents but supposedly you can get a lavender if the parents are carrying the brown/buff dilution gene but don't necessarily need to display it to pass it on? So I'm thinking one or both of it's parents are carriers of the gene. I'm still trying to figure out how this works, would both the parents have to carry it?
I'll be taking more pics of it as it grows. I'll try and get pics of it's feet next just to compare to the other blue ones. You can see that this mystery colored duckling is a shade lighter blue and you can kinda see what I'm talking about with it looking just slightly brownish. Luckily I got pics of it next to one of the blue ones to compare.
I hatched 2 black, 4 blue, and 1 is this mystery color. Parents were all blue swedes except for possibly 1 of the black ducklings, it's mom may possibly be one of my really old swedes, one of them is blue the other black.
Anyway, I noticed right after it came out of the egg that it was another "blue" one but it seemed lighter and almost kinda brownish (due to it having a lot of the yellow down feathers mixed in with the blue ones, the others have that too but not as much). Another thing I noticed is compared to the other blue ones this one has a very pink bill. All the other blue ones, their bills are mostly blue. There's a little bit of blue coloring in the bill but it's very light. Its feet are pretty much the same way, it has some blue coloring in the feet but it's paler than what its blue siblings have. Even though I've hatched ducklings several times before this is the first time I had one this color. I don't think I was even aware of lavender or lilac color being possible in ducks until I tried figuring out what color this duckling is. Learn new things all the time. I hatched a couple silver swedish ducklings a long time ago and they came out all white, or at least I'm pretty sure they were silvers. I ended up giving those to a friend of my dad's so idk what they looked like when they grew up.
There seems to be a lack of info/pics on these special colored ducklings. I did find https://backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com/poultry-101/self-color-ducks-lavender-and-lilac/ but those are Cayuga ducks. I'm trying to figure out what color my swede is with having the pink bill. They only have pics of the adult Cayuga ducks and their bills have solid color. I'm thinking my swede might have pink just because it's a swede, they have a little bit of yellow on and mixed in their bills, they're usually not just solid colors. As ducklings that yellow color in the bills is a more pink color. So when it grows up its bill will probably turn yellow with some pale blue color on it.
Its parents are just blue swedes afaik, however it hatched out of a green egg and I think I know which of my swedes lays the green ones though I've never seen them do it. I need to set up a camera to be sure. The one I suspect lays the green eggs I'm also not sure if she's a pure swede. She had a white bib as a duckling but lost it as she got older, and she seems a little skinnier and more upright then the other swedes I've got. I kinda wonder if she might have some Indian Runner in her cause those things seem to be traits of a Runner duck though I've never had any Runners. I did buy her from a local feed store which I think gets their ducklings, chicks, etc from Hoover Hatchery. So maybe she's got some mixed genes, if that would have anything to do with the color of this duckling.
Anyway, idk what this duckling has for grandparents but supposedly you can get a lavender if the parents are carrying the brown/buff dilution gene but don't necessarily need to display it to pass it on? So I'm thinking one or both of it's parents are carriers of the gene. I'm still trying to figure out how this works, would both the parents have to carry it?
I'll be taking more pics of it as it grows. I'll try and get pics of it's feet next just to compare to the other blue ones. You can see that this mystery colored duckling is a shade lighter blue and you can kinda see what I'm talking about with it looking just slightly brownish. Luckily I got pics of it next to one of the blue ones to compare.
