Mixed Breed Duckling - Who is the Mama?

[ShovelsCoffee]

Meet Tiny - we are curious who his parents are! We only have a buff drake. Mama could be:

1) Welsh Harlequin
2) Blue Swedish
3) Black Swedish

This is excluding Cayuga and Buff ducks. Based on size I’m guessing it’s #1. But he’s looking very gray. Bill color also is more welsh. I’ve had a very hard time finding photos/info online of buff crosses. Thanks for your input

Pictures
Tiny with Buffs
Tiny
Welsh/Blue Swedish ducks, Buff drake
Tiny

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Meet Tiny - we are curious who his parents are! We only have a buff drake. Mama could be:

1) Welsh Harlequin
2) Blue Swedish
3) Black Swedish

This is excluding Cayuga and Buff ducks. Based on size I’m guessing it’s #1. But he’s looking very gray. Bill color also is more welsh. I’ve had a very hard time finding photos/info online of buff crosses. Thanks for your input

Pictures
Tiny with Buffs
Tiny
Welsh/Blue Swedish ducks, Buff drake
Tiny
View attachment 3520978View attachment 3520979View attachment 3520961View attachment 3520977

I think he is a silver, having two blue genes. That would make mom the Blue Swedish. They can be more gray or totally white. The duck in my avatar is a crested, silver Swedish who usually appears white.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Are you sure he is a he? I ask because I see such a brownish cast. I still think it has two blue alleles but if it is a girl, she could get buff from daddy and be lilac. If so, very cool.

 

[Nero70002]

Very pretty duck either way!

 

[ShovelsCoffee]

Very pretty duck either way!

Thank you!

Are you sure he is a he? I ask because I see such a brownish cast. I still think it has two blue alleles but if it is a girl, she could get buff from daddy and be lilac. If so, very cool.

I would love if Tiny is a duck - I’ll cross my fingers and toes! I haven’t heard a single quack…. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and update when we see a curl, hear a voice, or find an egg

 

[ShovelsCoffee]

Are you sure he is a he? I ask because I see such a brownish cast. I still think it has two blue alleles but if it is a girl, she could get buff from daddy and be lilac. If so, very cool.

I felt pretty confident based on comparison to hatch mates. I’d love to be wrong!

 

[ShovelsCoffee]

I think he is a silver, having two blue genes. That would make mom the Blue Swedish. They can be more gray or totally white. The duck in my avatar is a crested, silver Swedish who usually appears white.

I’ll have to look into bib genetics too. I suppose that’s why I guess welsh, but now the colors don’t make sense. How did you avatar duck feathering change from young to permanent feathers?

 

[ShovelsCoffee]

Would it make a difference… our Welsh Harlequin is silver phase?

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I’ll have to look into bib genetics too. I suppose that’s why I guess welsh, but now the colors don’t make sense. How did you avatar duck feathering change from young to permanent feathers?

Wish I knew, I got her as an adult (1 yr old). I did hatch a lavender duckling of hers, lavender is one blue allele and sex-linked brown (darker than buff). Her daddy was a Khaki x Appleyard. This is her as a duckling and adult:

Would it make a difference… our Welsh Harlequin is silver phase?

Not really except if your male is buff and your female isn’t buff or brown, then your babies are sex-linked. Babies that have buff or brown are females and those that have black undertones are males.
I really do not think your Welsh is the mother. I crossed a Khaki drake and a Welsh hen. These were my babies:

The dark babies are boys, olive ones girls. The harlequin gene is recessive so only getting one copy does not result in light ducklings. The buff gene is sex-linked and incompletely dominant so I also would not expect a duckling as light as yours. So, I still say you have a lilac duckling from your blue female. The brown duck below is one of the Welsh x Khaki girls grown up.

 

[Corbdee]

Wish I knew, I got her as an adult (1 yr old). I did hatch a lavender duckling of hers, lavender is one blue allele and sex-linked brown (darker than buff). Her daddy was a Khaki x Appleyard. This is her as a duckling and adult:
View attachment 3521338
View attachment 3521341


Not really except if your male is buff and your female isn’t buff or brown, then your babies are sex-linked. Babies that have buff or brown are females and those that have black undertones are males.
I really do not think your Welsh is the mother. I crossed a Khaki drake and a Welsh hen. These were my babies:
View attachment 3521347
The dark babies are boys, olive ones girls. The harlequin gene is recessive so only getting one copy does not result in light ducklings. The buff gene is sex-linked and incompletely dominant so I also would not expect a duckling as light as yours. So, I still say you have a lilac duckling from your blue female. The brown duck below is one of the Welsh x Khaki girls grown up.
View attachment 3521351

You need to teach me about duck genetics. This is fascinating even though it made zero sense to me . Sex linking makes slight sense to me, and I get the darker colors typically mean males, but I feel like Swedish ducks should be their own bird entirely with how cool they are with breeding .

I'm mostly confused about this,

I did hatch a lavender duckling of hers, lavender is one blue allele and sex-linked brown (darker than buff).

what is an allele (for dummies please) and how do you determine if you have a specific sex-linked color of duck?
Sorry for taking over the thread with a different question, I can start a new thread if this question will blow up this thread.

That's such beautiful duck though, @ShovelsCoffee !