Duck Genetics Question

[AllCoop'dUp]

I have 3 Cayugas purchased at the local farm store. They had 6 and I took 3. Ended up with 2 drakes and a duck (I think). From what I've been reading, I should let them produce any babies, correct? I added a second crested Cayuga, from a separate breeder, sex undetermined at this time which I'm hoping will be a duck. Should there be a mishap and the brother/sisters try hatching egss, what happens? They just don't hatch or what? Does this also mean that I need to have separate pens for all of them to pair up? What about a Cayuga drake and Blue Swedish duck? Cute babies or disaster?

 

[CityChicker]

There is usually not a problem mating siblings. There are only issues if it is done for several generations, but even then the eggs will generally be fertile and hatch. It is doubtful that yours are related anyway if you got them from a feed store, unless your feed store buys ducklings locally and knows they were related. Most feed stores order from hatcheries though, which have thousands of breeder birds so they may not be related at all.

As far as mating Cayuga to Blue Swedish, you will get half Blue Bibbed like a Swedish and half Black Bibbed.

 

[BjsBestGirl]

interbreeding (incest) is how most new breeds are made. It shouldnt make much of a difference at first but its once you keep breeding them over the babies to where the mom is the sister and grandma and great grandma and so on. Thats when problems start. its like that song "I am my own Grandpa". I have brother and sister ducks that breed eachother and there havnt been any problems so far, but if it continues i will have to sell the older ones and just keep the babies. Chances are, if you got them from a farm supply store, they got them from a hatchery. If that is the case, it is doubtful you have anything to worry about as far as them being related. Hatcheries hatch LITTERALLY hundreds of thousands of eggs EVERY DAY! EX: I think McMurray hatches somewhere around 400,000/day (it was on the show dirty jobs). So even if they are identical looking, they could be from completely different hens and drakes. Especially if you consider that among sexing them, they are all mixed up and sent down a belt (in some hatcheries)where they are picked up by different workers and re-mixed up again. I hope this helps give you piece of mind!

 

[percyj]

How can the mom be the sister lol sorry just kidding

 

[BjsBestGirl]

if 2 ducks have a baby and they create a daughter. that daughter mates with its dad. their daughter would be the sister and daughter. mom would be mom and sister. it would only be half sister but it still counts

 

[percyj]

I'm sure youre rite I'm just 2 lazy to think it through.

bcuz my dogs currently barking his stupid head off at the geese he's known dice their gosling days. Grrrrr

 

[BjsBestGirl]

lolololol. I prefer ducks! But I love my doggie too

I got her before iIknew I could get ducks and if I had known, I probably wouldnt have gotten her. but now, i wouldnt trade her in for ANY duck.

 

[percyj]

I kno rite???

 

[chickincoop]

This is our first year with Muscovies. We have 3 adult females: one blue with a white head, one solid white with blue eyes, and one black and white pied. They have produced 26 babies for us so far this year. The babies were all produced with a black and white pied male which we no longer have. My question is that we want to keep a male from our first batch of babies. There were 3 males, one blue barred, on blue, and one black with a bib, out of that batch. We are raising these ducks for meat, but also have been asked by friends, etc. for ducks to purchase for their own homes. Since the lighter colors (not the black and white) tend to be more popular around here, which male should I keep to increase my chances of getting more blue or lighter babies? We are thinking either the barred blue or the solid blue. They are both good size and by 4 weeks were twice the size of the females. And, oddly, out of all of those babies, only 5 were female!