Duck genes, distributed to offspring?

[nao57]

So I've been wondering about duck genes distributed to offspring.

In high school they teach you Mendelian genetics and talk about poppy flowers, etc. You probably all remember this and when they talked about Punnet Squares.

Gene types [AA] parent mates with [Aa] parent to produce 4 offspring resulting in; AA, AA, Aa, and Aa, or something like that. If the parents were [Aa] and [aa], then they teach you it would end up as offspring; Aa, Aa, aa, and aa.

Now here's where the trouble begins... school is theory, and in reality the ducks aren't ONLY going to have 4 eggs every time. And the odd thing is that watching people's videos it looks like the ducks are either, or, but not as much mixed.

Am I wrong in thinking that? What do you think? And does that not even follow the punnet square/Mendelian Genetics if they are different sub-species?

So say you have a Peking mate with a Khaki Campbell...are the offspring going to be EITHER OR, or a mix? And is it pretty clear cut? Does it tend to favor either way more than the others?

What if it was something else also? Say you put Muscovy A with a 'Mud Shitter' species B... would they be either Muscovy or mud shitter, or a mix between them, at least more often than not?

This is really interesting stuff to think about right?

In theory, someone could totally plan out their own sub-species of duck if they really put their mind to it, and if they were smart about it. It would probably be sort of take tons of attention to every detail. I'm not really wanting to do this, but it got me wondering about it when I was seeing other peoples videos and seeing the coloration in the ducks.

Does sub-species mixing not follow these rules much?

Well thanks for any thoughts on this. Its fun to think about.

 

[Pyxis]

So say you have a Peking mate with a Khaki Campbell...are the offspring going to be EITHER OR, or a mix? And is it pretty clear cut? Does it tend to favor either way more than the others?

It is mendelian genetics, and you can use a punnet square, but there are a lot of things going on that you have to know about to be able to find out what you're doing.

So, that pekin is white. White is a recessive gene, so there shouldn't be any white offspring. But white also 'hides' all the other colors, so you don't really know what the pekin's genotype is, so this particular example, it's hard to say what color the ducklings would actually be.

Also, by subspecies I'm assuming you mean breed? All the breeds are the same species, with the same color genetics, and all the color genetics are the same for all breeds.

Muscovies are a whole different species, however, so those do not breed the same way as the other domestic breeds.

But that's colors. It sounds like you're also asking about things like body shape when you say the ducks look like they're'either or'. Yes, when crossing breeds, you end up with ducklings that have a mix of the traits of both breeds. But the color genetics are still breeding the same.

What if it was something else also? Say you put Muscovy A with a 'Mud Shitter' species B... would they be either Muscovy or mud shitter, or a mix between them, at least more often than not?

This sounds like you're asking about crossing species. There's only one 'breed' of muscovy, so the only other ducks you could be talking about are the mallard derived breeds.

With this cross, you're creating what's called a Mule Duck. So named because it's exactly like crossing a horse and a donkey - you get a mule. They're not really either species, and they're also sterile. This is totally different than breeding for color, though.

 

[nao57]

Wow.

Sterile ducks sounds bad. I'll have to avoid that. Thanks for telling me and warning me ahead of time. :O

This is really neat to think about. But its amazing how many complexities are in there too.

So does that also mean some combinations work better than others, (and not be sterile lol)?

Also, I feel so grateful you replied on this because maybe its not an easy topic for people to go on, because probably only people who've had stuff for awhile or who are a bit into discovering things might be able to respond in.

 

[Pyxis]

So does that also mean some combinations work better than others, (and not be sterile lol)?

The only ones that are sterile are muscovies crossed with the mallard derived breeds, because that's crossing species.

Any of the mallard-derived breeds can breed with each other no problem, and produce fertile offspring.

 

[Ratchnick]

Worth pointing out that most breeds of duck were intentionally created.