Different color calls running together, now laying????

[pamperedpoultry]

Just found the first eggs this year from my calls. I have them all running together for the winter. I've got black magpie, blue bibbed, buff and one white and a blue fawn..(the white and the blue fawn I hatched from mine last year?) Had the buffs together and then the black and blues together in another pen. Not sure who's eggs they came from. Not the best on colors, but what might I end up hatching with these eggs since their all together??

 

[Sweetfolly]

The White you hatched out last year most likely came from your Magpies... A lot of breeders have used Whites to improve the type in Magpies, so there's some recessive White floating around and you'll have one pop out every once in awhile.

Anyways, you're most likely going to end up with a lot of Magpies, Bibbeds, Buffs, and Whites from that mix. The Buff x Magpie combination could give you some Blue Magpies and Chocolate Magpies.

If you do hatch them out though, you probably don't want to use the offspring to breed "pure" colors. With the Buffs/Magpies/Pieds together in there, it's going to make a whole mess of heterozygous "black" birds who look like plain old Blue or Black Bibbeds or Magpies but only have one copy of the extended black gene, so if you breed them together or to another bird without extended black, they'll throw ducklings who don't have extended black - such as Greys and maybe even Dusky. You also have to think about the recessive White in there - the original parents or the White bird you hatched last year are each carrying a copy that they each pass on to 50% of their offspring, and the White one will pass one of its copies to ALL of its offspring. Which could be super fun and exciting if you're like me and you don't mind surprises - but it could also potentially mess up years of someone's hard work in a certain color or pattern. When I mix my colors and then I sell the ducklings to people, I always make sure I tell them the colors were mixed and they won't always breed "true" to their phenotypic color.

Oh - and your Calls are gorgeous. Love the Magpies. I have a trio coming next week that look a lot like them and I cannot wait!!!

 

[hollyk]

Just bumping your post, not very familiar with ducks. However, this spring I shall have some! Good luck with your hatching. Sometimes, barnyard mixes are the cutest.

 

[pamperedpoultry]

The White you hatched out last year most likely came from your Magpies... A lot of breeders have used Whites to improve the type in Magpies, so there's some recessive White floating around and you'll have one pop out every once in awhile.

Anyways, you're most likely going to end up with a lot of Magpies, Bibbeds, Buffs, and Whites from that mix. The Buff x Magpie combination could give you some Blue Magpies and Chocolate Magpies.

If you do hatch them out though, you probably don't want to use the offspring to breed "pure" colors. With the Buffs/Magpies/Pieds together in there, it's going to make a whole mess of heterozygous "black" birds who look like plain old Blue or Black Bibbeds or Magpies but only have one copy of the extended black gene, so if you breed them together or to another bird without extended black, they'll throw ducklings who don't have extended black - such as Greys and maybe even Dusky. You also have to think about the recessive White in there - the original parents or the White bird you hatched last year are each carrying a copy that they each pass on to 50% of their offspring, and the White one will pass one of its copies to ALL of its offspring. Which could be super fun and exciting if you're like me and you don't mind surprises - but it could also potentially mess up years of someone's hard work in a certain color or pattern. When I mix my colors and then I sell the ducklings to people, I always make sure I tell them the colors were mixed and they won't always breed "true" to their phenotypic color.

Oh - and your Calls are gorgeous. Love the Magpies. I have a trio coming next week that look a lot like them and I cannot wait!!!

Thanks!! I've always had a time with "getting" genetics but that was very well put and gave me a better understanding.. So far the ones I've hatched I haven't been able to part with and wanted to hatch all my eggs LOL .. My calls are spoiled. I Just thought I have a blue fawn drake that I hatched out of mine to last year along with the white.. what would that produce? saying they didn't come from the same parents and carry that extra white gene?