Hmm...What should I expect?

[Bleenie]

After a lot of thought, I finally decided i could handle keeping 3 "weird" ducks (lol). I kept 1 Drake and 2 Hens and of course I picked the cutest ones

The drake is Silver with a white Bib
Pekin hen
Blue Swedish/Crested Pekin hen

What should i expect to see, as far as colors go, from their future babies? these guys are of course still babies themselves, but i am curious and it's been a LONG time since i have had ducks hatch ducklings that weren't Muscovy.

Here they are!

 

[Chloe]

I have no idea what you can expect, but they are adorable!

 

[Bleenie]

Thank you, I just love them! I knew as soon as i realized the Pekin was a girl that i HAD to keep her, she's probably my favorite and also probably the loudest, lol.

 

[FenDruadin]

My guess: Blues, silvers, whites, in various combinations & patterns. Blue & silver are the same genetics except silver has two blue dilution genes, and blue has only one. The genes that make the colors look randomly broken by white are bibbed and/or runner pattern. White is recessive, so some of your ducklings will get both white genes and come out pure white, and some will only get one and the white won't be expressed. Or it might be broken up by the bibbed/runner patterns. So that's my take.

They are quite beautiful, by the way.

 

[Bleenie]

I am pretty sure the Drake is a Silver runner/swedish(?) mix. he definitely has no pekin in him but he could also have been from their Silver runner drake and FW Crested runner hen, he's a lot thinner than all the others were.

 

[FenDruadin]

He does look like he could have some runner in him, compared to the others. In a second generation out of this flock, you could get some blacks with the pattern broken by white, too. Blue and silver both have black genetics underlying the blue dilution.

They will be beautiful, I'm sure! Enjoy!

 

[duck walk]

oooooo...they are so pretty...

 

[love_a_duck]

Okay Bleenie,

After considerable thought, pondering, rumination and calculating with my non-existant gene knowledge.

The answer is.........

The most fantastic beautiful crosses of ducks to ever grace this planet!

well, maybe west of the rockies.

I, personally cannot wait for the results.

Beth

 

[Bleenie]

Lol, thank you guys. I was also considering keeping a cute little blue splash runner/swede hen but figured the babies colors would be too predictable and wanted to keep only 2 girls anyway. The pekin was a must and when i realized the quiet crested one was a girl i had to keep her, lol.... i really did think she was a boy, she almost never makes noise unless one of the geese is being crabby, then she must tattle

 

[FenDruadin]

By the way, it's good that your drake is not crested--breeding crested to crested results in a high percentage of babies with spinal/skull deformities, often grotesque and/or deadly. Having a crested hen will mean you'll get some crested offspring without the dangers of breeding both. But it's good to know for the future--if you keep some of the offspring, either keep only crested drakes (not crested hens) or only crested hens (not crested drakes) to avoid the potentially fatal combination.

Enjoy.