Do these guys look like black Swedish ducklings?

[Vyne]

I got 6 duck eggs to hatch a while ago, they all hatched great and are all 3 weeks old tomorrow. I was told the eggs were welsh harlaquin/Pekin cross. One egg was blueish, this one hatched out yellow and is now growing in darker feathers (this would be the harliquin colouring). The other 5 were white eggs, and they all came out dark with yellow chests and wing tips... can a cross of harliquin/pekin make colours like the black Swedish ducks? Or did the eggs get mixed up? photos are at various ages over the last 3 weeks.

 

[ANightPerson]

This is completely normal! I'm a little rusty on the genetics of it, but I'll explain what I remember without any extensive research. I had this exact conversation a few months ago, if I can find the thread tomorrow, I'll link it. If I remember correctly, there is actually only a bib masking gene, so ducks that carry this gene will not be bibbed, and those that do won't be. Basically, having a bib is dominant to not having one is all you need to know. The white Pekin coat is a masking gene. Meaning that a Pekin can have literally any phenotype hidden beneath it. This is recessive to not having it. Pekins have a masking gene over their base phenotype, so they don't really need to have a non-bibbed gene. Most won't, in fact. The Black coat is dominant. If the Pekin has a black coat gene and a bibbed gene that are unexpressed due to their masking gene, both of these dominant traits can be passed down to their offspring given the offspring don't have an expressed masking gene. Many genes that contribute to phenotype in ducks are sex-linked, so disregarding those, your batch is completely normal. Most people will get this exact phenotype when they cross their ducks. This is all due to the masking genes over them. Most people will also say that the offspring are sex-linked as well. Especially since one of the parent breeds has a sex-linked phenotype, these should be too, which would explain your one yellow chick. Fingers crossed the black ones are the females. It could also be that that one has at least one different parent and got thrown in accidentally.

 

[Vyne]

This is completely normal! I'm a little rusty on the genetics of it, but I'll explain what I remember without any extensive research. I had this exact conversation a few months ago, if I can find the thread tomorrow, I'll link it. If I remember correctly, there is actually only a bib masking gene, so ducks that carry this gene will not be bibbed, and those that do won't be. Basically, having a bib is dominant to not having one is all you need to know. The white Pekin coat is a masking gene. Meaning that a Pekin can have literally any phenotype hidden beneath it. This is recessive to not having it. Pekins have a masking gene over their base phenotype, so they don't really need to have a non-bibbed gene. Most won't, in fact. The Black coat is dominant. If the Pekin has a black coat gene and a bibbed gene that are unexpressed due to their masking gene, both of these dominant traits can be passed down to their offspring given the offspring don't have an expressed masking gene. Many genes that contribute to phenotype in ducks are sex-linked, so disregarding those, your batch is completely normal. Most people will get this exact phenotype when they cross their ducks. This is all due to the masking genes over them. Most people will also say that the offspring are sex-linked as well. Especially since one of the parent breeds has a sex-linked phenotype, these should be too, which would explain your one yellow chick. Fingers crossed the black ones are the females. It could also be that that one has at least one different parent and got thrown in accidentally.

Thanks for your help, it has been hard to find pictures of specific crosses when it comes to ducks, the only duckling pictures of crosses of both harlaquins/pekin was those who where quite spotty, looked more like Maggie ducks I think they are called. Regardless of what they are I love them dearly, I just was curious to know if they can look like that as they look very close to the Swedish black ducklings.

 

[chickens really]

They are more than likely exactly what you were told they are. Cute.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They look like blk Swedish. Such cute little things