Genetics of silver duckwing..

[pips&peeps]

I have a little knowledge of silver duckwing, but just enough to get me in trouble. So, I thought one of you "gurus" out there could clarify some things for me.

#1. The male and female are very different colored. Is the female supposed to be carrying any gold genes? As I am seeing a tiny bit of gold in my females and males.

#2. When breeding a strictly silver bird to a female that appears to have gold genes, will all the female offspring carry only silver and the males could be hiding gold?

#3. I understand to breed good females and males in this color, you need two breeding lines. One for pullets and one for cockerels. I was told to use a cockerel/roo with a splotchy chest to make good females and a cockerel/roo that is "correct" to standard to produce good males. Is this true?

#4. Is there any way to help improve the "duckwing" pattern on the wing besides just a continual cull to improve?

Thanks Genetics Gurus!! I guess I need to go out and spend that wad of money on The Genetics of Fowl, unless someone has a copy they would like to send me for Christmas.

 

[DTchickens]

i haven't had a chance to "toy" with my silver duckwing OEGBs yet... but from what i've heard silver duckwing/silver duckwing will produce all silver duckwings, are you sure the gold isn't just sun damge, or feathers turnt yellow due to corn?

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

I guess I need to go out and spend that wad of money on The Genetics of Fowl, unless someone has a copy they would like to send me for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

GENETICS OF THE FOWL
by
F. B. HUTT, PH.D., D.Sc. (Edin.)
Professor of Animal Genetics
New York State College of Agriculture, Cornell University

Lisa​

 

[pips&peeps]

Oh my gosh I can read it online!!

Thank you for forwarding me that link.

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote:
From my understanding, a true silver bird will not yellow.

 

[DTchickens]

pips&peeps :

Quote:
From my understanding, a true silver bird will not yellow.

hm, maybe... im not sure. every white/silver duckwing i;ve came across has the yellow sun/corn problem. same with the white feathers in Barreds and cuckoos​

 

[tadkerson]

Silver duck wing males or females should not have any red color in the their feathers. Neither the male or the female should carry the sex linked gold gene.

Hutts book contains some good information but also contains information that has changed over time due to recent research.

I do not breed gold or silver duckwing so I can not answer the remainder of your questions.

Tim

 

[pips&peeps]

An occassional red feather has popped up in this line and the reason I asked about this is because I purchased some chicks from a different breeder this year and the males seem to be a much better "white" than males from my current line.

Upon close examination, it appears that there is some very light gold on the hackles and saddles.

If there is anyone else that knows about this, please reply.

 

[pocopoyo]

On Silver Duckwing birds; I am not a 'Guru', but I have raised silver and birchen birds for a while. Here are my thoughts.

#1. The male and female are very different colored. Is the female supposed to be carrying any gold genes? As I am seeing a tiny bit of gold in my females and males.

-- Silver Duckwing, male and female are pure for Silver. Males should be black and white. Females are gray (black and white) with a salmon breast. The salmon color will often leak into other parts of the body, especially the wings. A lot of silver females appear more brown or gold than gray. The red and gold feathers that you are seeing is probably coming from autosomal red, not gold. Autosomal Red is not sexed linked and be carried by males or females. It shows up especially well in a black and white male.

#2. When breeding a strictly silver bird to a female that appears to have gold genes, will all the female offspring carry only silver and the males could be hiding gold?

-- A pure white and black male is unlikely to carry gold genes. It is possible, but most silver/gold crosses are very yellow compared to true silvers. Silver is sex linked so females are going to be either silver or gold, they can't be both. A pure silver male bred to either silver or gold female will produce all silver female offspring. If the female is gold, the males would be silver/gold crosses, which would be very yellow.

#3. I understand to breed good females and males in this color, you need two breeding lines. One for pullets and one for cockerels. I was told to use a cockerel/roo with a splotchy chest to make good females and a cockerel/roo that is "correct" to standard to produce good males. Is this true?

-- Some would argue that all exhibition poultry should have pullet lines and cockerel lines. This allows you to maximize selection for male type versus female type and for color as well. I don't have the space for this, so I put the best colored male with the best color females. With the silver color, I emphasize the male because I think it is easier to get exceptable females from a good male line. With birchens I select more for females because I think I can get decent males from a line of good females.

#4. Is there any way to help improve the "duckwing" pattern on the wing besides just a continual cull to improve?

--- If you are raising silver duckwing OE bantams, you are in luck, because there are a lot of breeders with excellent silver duckwing stock. So you can pick up an extra male to improve your line. if you are working with silver ameraucana or silver dutch, these are much less common and any stock you find is probably going to have similar problems. In this case your best bet is to hatch a lot, eat a lot, and keep only the best.

#5 Yellowing.

-- All silver birds will turn yellow if left in the sun. If you want to keep them white, you have to cover their outside run with shade cloth. If you are trying to clean them up for show, you can get shampoo for white horses that will clean them up pretty well.


I hope this helps

Curtis