Muscovy Duck heterochromia (split blue/ brown eyes)

[Berd Man]

Hi all, usually I lurk around the goose forum but I also keep Muscovy Ducks, which are very similar to geese but have more color variations. I have a genetic trait question

I have a drake that comes from a mixed flock of almost every plumage color except some of the barred types. He displays heterochromia and has very unusual eyes. Anyone else see this trait in their Muscovy flock?

I have French white hens with solid blue eyes, and one brown/white hen with brown eyes. Before this male I had not seen split color eyes before. I’m wondering because I like to use the duck plumage calculator and make various crosses and I don’t know what the drake is now… do you all think he is pied or something else? The ducklings from him and the hens are mixed. Some are all yellow, black/yellow, light brown/yellow, dark brown/yellow. I’m keeping an eye out to see if the eye color from the drake is passed on.

 

[TREX]

He's a good looking drake! Beautiful ladies too!!There are a couple breeders that have posted links on colors let me find them and I'll post for you just in case you don't have them yet. I would love to see updates on how his babies turn out and if you can identify his color pattern.

 

[TREX]

Hi all, usually I lurk around the goose forum but I also keep Muscovy Ducks, which are very similar to geese but have more color variations. I have a genetic trait question

I have a drake that comes from a mixed flock of almost every plumage color except some of the barred types. He displays heterochromia and has very unusual eyes. Anyone else see this trait in their Muscovy flock?

I have French white hens with solid blue eyes, and one brown/white hen with brown eyes. Before this male I had not seen split color eyes before. I’m wondering because I like to use the duck plumage calculator and make various crosses and I don’t know what the drake is now… do you all think he is pied or something else? The ducklings from him and the hens are mixed. Some are all yellow, black/yellow, light brown/yellow, dark brown/yellow. I’m keeping an eye out to see if the eye color from the drake is passed on.

View attachment 3834031View attachment 3834032View attachment 3834041

https://www.muscovyduckdynasty.com/colors-patterns

 

[TREX]

Hi all, usually I lurk around the goose forum but I also keep Muscovy Ducks, which are very similar to geese but have more color variations. I have a genetic trait question

I have a drake that comes from a mixed flock of almost every plumage color except some of the barred types. He displays heterochromia and has very unusual eyes. Anyone else see this trait in their Muscovy flock?

I have French white hens with solid blue eyes, and one brown/white hen with brown eyes. Before this male I had not seen split color eyes before. I’m wondering because I like to use the duck plumage calculator and make various crosses and I don’t know what the drake is now… do you all think he is pied or something else? The ducklings from him and the hens are mixed. Some are all yellow, black/yellow, light brown/yellow, dark brown/yellow. I’m keeping an eye out to see if the eye color from the drake is passed on.

View attachment 3834031View attachment 3834032View attachment 3834041

https://alsquackery.com/muscovy

 

[Berd Man]

He's a good looking drake! Beautiful ladies too!!There are a couple breeders that have posted links on colors let me find them and I'll post for you just in case you don't have them yet. I would love to see updates on how his babies turn out and if you can identify his color pattern.

Thank you, I didn’t have those links and there is a lot of plumage varieties there. I think my drake would be brown pied if I based it off of what he looks most like in those links. There’s not a lot of information on heterochromia and Muscovy ducks from what I’ve been able to see. The French white have blue eyes and the other varieties have a golden/brown eye. I’m just curious about getting brown ducks that will have blue eyes or split colored irises.

I’ll post this years crosses up, some more hatched just a few days ago. There’s 15 of them out there between two or three hens. I had a few hens that got robbed by skunks so the count is pretty low from what it could have been

 

[TREX]

It is interesting! I guess you might be the one writing that chapter. I've never seen blue eyed muscovies let alone one with heterochromia. I would think that would be pretty rare. Btw where did you get your french whites?

 

[Berd Man]

It is interesting! I guess you might be the one writing that chapter. I've never seen blue eyed muscovies let alone one with heterochromia. I would think that would be pretty rare. Btw where did you get your french whites?

The French whites are from Louisville, KY. I have a friend there that has kept a small flock for the last few years. I’m not sure where he got them originally.

I would tend to think the same as you, we will see if it’s inheritable. Mom brought them up by the house for some shade today and I snapped a few shots. I like the one with the brown cap on its head and the feint saddle (top left in second photo)

 

[Canadian Wind]

The thing with whites is they are not actually white, it's the result of a double pied gene. Pied is dominant so you just need one gene for it to show.

From the looks of that absolutely amazing drake, he is a chocolate pied. So, all babies will be either pied or white, and who knows what is hiding in the background, genetically speaking, of your white ladies.

Check out this pdf:

http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/14E06A08.pdf

 

[Canadian Wind]

Oh, and sorry I can't help with the eyes. I think it's due to the combination of his chocolate and pied genes, but I could be completely off.

 

[Berd Man]

Oh, and sorry I can't help with the eyes. I think it's due to the combination of his chocolate and pied genes, but I could be completely off.

That makes sense to me. Also, that PDF is amazing, thank you.