Distinguishing pure Swedish ducks from crossed

[billw]

I posted a similar message in the Swedish duck thread, but it seems that thread is not seeing a lot of action these days.

We have a bunch of ducklings this year, some of which are pure Swedish and some of which are not. We have two possible fathers: a blue and a black Swedish. We have nine possible mothers: 4 black Swedish, 4 Golden 300 hybrids, and 1 buff.

As I understand it, black coloration and white bibs are dominant, so we're likely to have a lot of ducks that look like Black Swedish, but really aren't. Our results seem to bear that out. The majority look like black Swedish, with a smaller number that look like blues, and a few pure white ducks.

So, is there any visual way to distinguish actual black Swedish from crosses that just look like black Swedish? There seems to be a lot of variation in bill colors and patterns, so I'm wondering if that may be a way to tell them apart.

How about the blues? Is it safe to say that a duck that looks like a Blue Swedish is true, or is it possible to get that coloring from a cross?

 

[Kevin565]

Due to the pattern of Blue Swedish depending on the mother and father I think it's going to be difficult to figure out which is pure and which isn't. If you post pictures you may get more detailed answers.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Because the color pattern shows up in many breeds and can be found in cross breds, the best way to make sure you have purebred Swedish is to keep your purebred Swedish separated from other breeds during breeding season.

Sometimes mixed breed ducks will look exactly like one parent and nothing like the other parent. So they might look like a purebred, even if they are not.

You could probably make a determination by doing some controlled test breeding with individual ducks to see what they produce. Because if there are genes in there that are not Swedish genes, they should show up in some of the offspring. It would be a big project though. Easier to just keep your breeds separated during breeding season.

In answer to your question: blue bibbed shows up in several breeds and cross breeds, so blue bibbed is not proof of pure breeding.

 

[billw]

Thanks - that is just what I needed to know. Henceforth, our ducks will be mutts. I'm OK with that.