Meet Mocha! And the rest of the hatch :D (pic heavy)

[desertdarlene]

Awwww, cute! I love the little patterns on the feet of the mixed-colored one.

 

[BHep]

SOOooooo cute!!!

I have 6 runner egg in my incubator now, due 12-29. First time hatching ducks, have not had ducks in about 4-5 years and never had runners. Never even seen one until the fair this year. Fell in love of course. I don't know what colors, the man that gave me the eggs had a bunch, all colors.

Congrats on your hatch and best of luck with little Mocha.

 

[tia]

The pictures are great.... what a bunch of cuties... enjoy!!!

 

[FenDruadin]

GORGEOUS pictures. SO sweet. Mocha is adorable.

If I had to guess, I'd say your seller had fawn/white runners mixing in with chocolates or similar. The fawn/white contributes the genes to break up the color pattern (the way mocha is) and the blues or chocolates would contribute the genes that could result in the darker colors. A fawn/white runner (which is a standard color) will look mostly yellow as a duckling, with some slightly darker tint in the areas that will be fawn-colored as an adult. The fawn/white runner also has a bluish bill as seen in your pictures, rather than the bright yellow bill of a white duck. Any of your light-colored ducklings could grow up to be true fawn/white, or they could be silverish, or lavendar, or any number of non-standard variations of a light-colored duck. None look likely to be pure white.

The darker ducks are not likely to be any standard color I know of. They're what makes me think you've got some chocolate or similar mixed in--they're too dark for fawn/white runners.

They're all utterly adorable. It always irritates me a bit, though, when people sell ducklings (or hatching eggs) without even knowing what color their own ducks are. Brown & white is NOT a standard runner color.

Luckily, they are gorgeous and you are going to enjoy the heck out of little Mocha.

 

[Birdcrazy]

Thanks everyone! Yeah, hopefully Mocha stays camera happy 'cause I want to keep taking loads!!

I think I'm going to really enjoy him and I love how there will be some colour variation. Goodluck with your 6 in the bator BHep, its worth it!

iamcuriositycat - thanks for that! When I was looking at the hatch when they were first born I noticed 4 with blue bills and the rest just pink and I noticed alot had darky yellow spots (such as the one in the first pic) was wondering what colour that meant, but it would make sense now

I don't think it would bother the new owner what colours she got (shes a duck lover). I'm really curious to see how Mocha will turn out, and since he's pretty dark I'd say some sort of chocolate? I don't think many of these ducklings are related, I was having a problem with my broody duck sitting on an empty nest so the lady said she'd give me some runner duck eggs to solve the problem and just collected all those eggs in the morning lay and gave them to me (the has alot of ducks

). When I asked she just said 'white and brown' and didn't have any better names for the colour. I was grateful though for any eggs and epecially runners (the popular ducks here)
I'd love to post pictures on here when he's older too

 

[DuckLover179]

So adorable!

 

[FenDruadin]

Ya know, I am really working on not being so darn judgmental, and I'm not always doing a very good job. I appreciate your response & explanation--if you don't care, and your buyers don't care what colors you have, then it would be really silly for someone else (like me) to care.

Everyone has their own reasons for doing what they do, and as long as all parties are honest about the transaction, then it's a good exchange, regardless whether the ducks are brown and white, purple, or coated with flakes of real gold.

And I want you to know I never meant to criticize *you* for selling the ducklings not knowing what colors they are--I was referring to the breeder.

Extricating foot from mouth... Thanks for not jumping all over me for being rude.

 

[gofasterstripe]

Quote:
Yes keep us updated on him/her as she/he is growing. Its always nice to look thru other peoples photos and to see colours of ducks that we dont have over here.

 

[heather112588]

post as many pics as you want- they are adorable! I used to raise ducks...currently stuck in an office but the pics bring back so many good memories : )

 

[Birdcrazy]

Quote:
Haha its alright, I actually understand. But to me the lady who gave them to me didn't really seem to understand 'techincality' of it all, and didn't have time to sit around and chat - and I was just grateful for some eggs for my broody hen. Runners were a bonus

I live in a small town also, and any other breed of duck other than muscovy is pretty hard to get

I gave them away, not sell them, to a friend as I'm not too comfortable selling ducklings that aren't really my own, sort of unkown colours and only a promise of the breed.
They all went to a very green pasture full of snails and bugs to eat up, with a loving family

(win for me, I'd rather know they go somewhere good no matter the duck)
I'd love to actually start my own line of breeding but in the future when I get time. Also if you happen to know any duck with gold specks, please let me know

Really looking forward though to seeing what he turns out like, going to take heaps of photos!!! (I'm hoping its a girl, but don't want to jinx it!)
Thanks guys!