Look at my new runner babies! Also, what do you think they will look like?

[OneEggToRuleThemAll]

Hey y'all! I just adopted four mixed runner ducklings from a lovely family! I also adopted their last hatching egg, and it HATCHED in my cooler-bator the next day! So now we have five little lovelies! So precious.

I'm curious as to what they will look like when full grown! Their mama is a chocolate runner and their daddy is a fawn and white (pics attached). They are all chocolate and yellow fuzzballs, with brown on their beaks and feet! Will they be chocolate and white when they are adults? Does anyone have any photos to share of THEIR mixed runner ducks? And tell me any quirks about the breed? They are SO ACTIVE compared to my first batch of ducklings, and one of them even tried to snatch a fruit fly out of the air! OMG I love them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I had 2 ducklings from a fawn and White Female Runner and a Blk Runner daddy and this is what I got. What is so neat about mixing in colors is you never know what color your going to get. Look forward to seeing how your little one feather in.

 

[OneEggToRuleThemAll]

I had 2 ducklings from a fawn and White Female Runner and a Blk Runner daddy and this is what I got. What is so neat about mixing in colors is you never know what color your going to get. Look forward to seeing how your little one feather in. View attachment 3727951View attachment 3727952

They are beautiful!

So i looked more carefully at my ducklings and saw that two are blue/silver and yellow while the other three are chocolate and yellow!

 

[Miss Lydia]

It's also amazing how much they change from hatch to completely feathered in. Unless of course they are completely black and come from black parents. No doubt about who the parents are of my last 2 that hatched here in June 2023. I have 3 blk females 1 blk dad All my drakes are blk I would love to see what would come from my silver Runner and blk drake. Or Blue Runner and blk drake.

 

[OneEggToRuleThemAll]

I wonder if my ducklings are sex-linked? If that's the case, which color (the chocolate or the blue/silver) would be male and which would be female? Oh, now I want to learn duck genetics, but I completely skipped over that chapter in Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks, haha!

@cheezenkwackers Please pardon the tag, but I saw your comment on another thread about sex-linked runner ducklings. I haven't gotten the genetic-stuff figured out yet...if you wouldn't mind taking a look at my ducklings and tell me if you think mine are sex-linked, too? I'd be super grateful!