Tuxedo thinking he is a boy 13 weeks old Mohawk we are thinking also a boy same age. Lumina (named by my cousins 3 year old daughter Bella) girl since she is tiny what color do you think she is? Minny Moo is the tiniest one we have and a girl any thoughts on color? Lil Tux a mini version of Tuxedo we are thinking girl Snowball not sure if it's a boy or girl but very interesting color so we are keeping either way. Hard to see in the picture but an off white color with a light brown head. The one behind is a girl. Whisper named by my niece also a girl. Emma was told that she was a he but is very tiny and petite so I am guessing girl A picture of Emma with the other ducks she is so tiny I can't think she could be a boy unless she is stunted somehow. Last but certainly not least is Slick ( a girl but named by my son) Any thoughts on color she is such a cool coloring. Decided to keep 9 total thinking two are boys and 7 girls hopefully that is a good ratio. Might have two more girls coming soon but they are only 3 weeks right now so we would have to wait a bit for them to get bigger. So what do you think?
Yeah if your seeing small birds vs larger at this aging, i'd go with boy for the big ones and girls for the small. 3rd is a blue i also agree with the chocolate and white being a girl looks nothing like a drakelet and is much to small and delicate lol I am not very good with colours either... i have one that is a nice bluey, brown this year some seem to say lilac... http://www.muscovyduckcentral.com/genetics.html This site may help with colours.
Lumina is blue. It looks like she has the white head gene. Minny Moo looks like a silver. Snowball might be a silver, I've seen pictures of silver that are that light, but I suspect that you might have a lavender gene in your birds... which would make her light silver or light lavender. No guarantees on that though. And, unless I miss my mark, Slick looks like she's a silver with a little bit of discoloration in the neck and chest. I'd guess that the discoloration is a leftover of some chocolate somewhere in the line within the last two generations.
Thank you for the replies. There is such a color variation it makes it hard to tell what color they might be and since they are my first Muscovy birds I am definitely not good at colors. I know that the chocolates are chocolate but the blues tend to have darker chests and lighter backs so it was confusing. Also looking at Emma and reading in my Storey's Guide I am wondering if she is a magpie coloring. Since her primary color is white with brown highlights. Any ideas what colors her babies might be? I am excited to have them start breeding next spring so I can actually see what color babies they are going to have.
lol, ya, blue comes in an awful lot of shades. Emma technically fits the bill for magpie, but usually magpie has a slightly larger color patch on the back. But, she has the cap, colored tail, and heart shaped back patch. Chocolate is sex linked, so unless you breed her to another chocolate, the results will be exactly as if you'd bred the drake to a black hen. Bred to chocolate, she'll produce chocolate babies with a good chance that some will be more correct magpies. You'd be able to tell as soon as they hatch which ones are going to have a chance at being good magpie because magpie ducklings look like they're wearing little tuxedos. It's one of my Favorite things about magpie ducks. I've even had some come out with little white "wingtips" on their feet.
From top to bottom here are my educated guesses: Chocolate bibbed, drake Blue bibbed, drake Blue, white head duck Lavender pied, duck Chocolate bibbed, duck Silver, duck Chocolate bibbed, duck Chocolate magpie, duck Last one is a blue fawn (also known as lilac), duck
Sweet that was how I was guessing and hoping I was right. Was not sure about Snowball because he/she is larger than the other ducks but her face is so feminine I didn't think she was a drake and she is definitely smaller than the drakes I have. I have a black barred duck and white duck coming as well so my total ducks will be 9. How many drakes would be good for the group. The two I posted are my two top picks but I also have a lilac drake that is almost identical to Slick as well as two more blues a silver (I think), two more browns and a black. Could I keep another drake or is two enough. Also the blue drake that I posted above, do you think he has white head gene as well. How dominant is that trait. Will all the babies have white head or is it a recessive trait that just might pop out here and there? What is the difference between lilac and lavender? I thought they were the same color. How do you tell them apart? Here are some pictures of the other drakes I have Lilac drake maybe not sure Blue drake? Brown drake Brown drake definitely he already weighs close to 12 pounds at 13 weeks Lavender drake maybe? Black drake? Not sure. I have one more blue drake pretty sure he is a drake because he is big. These ones I posted to try and find homes for but maybe I can sneak another drake in the mix with the amount of girls I have or would that be bad for them?
That is so cool I can't wait until they start having babies. I have a brown bibbed drake and and a blue drake (possibly with white head gene also ) that I am keeping so far. I have a black, lavender, and lilac that are different colors I could keep for drakes as well ( I am guessing they are drakes but not sure of anything lol) . So maybe with adding two more ducks (they are 5 weeks right now) I will be able to keep one more drake. That would make my ratio 3 drakes to 9 ducks.