*~*Runner Duck Club*~*

[Julie Birb]

Cinnamon was a lovely duck, those eye lines are sharp!so sorry for your loss, I hope the duckling got the stripes!





The irregular parrot is Khoshekh

The lap ducks from near to far are Ein, Blue, Pooka and Nibbler

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The evening read-while-covered-in-ducks has become a tradition.

You are awesome. How very cute that you have snuggle time with your precious burds.

 

[Duck Hill]

The very latest in genetics: Trans-ovo-genetic exchange.
This happens when a gene migrates from one egg to the other in the incubator. No, wait, I have proof!!!


I mated a purebred trout colored Indian Runner drake with a green bill to a purebred silver Welsh Harlequin girl with a very dark blue bill. Out of their white egg I got Determination, a dark (not brown, not blue) female duckling with an orange bill.



In a different pen, I mated Beacon (a white Indian Runner with an orange bill) to Rose (a dark Indian Runner with an orange bill having a small brown saddle) and out of their green egg I got "Quack" - a female baby with a dark blue-green bill.



There is NO possibility that the parents are not the parents listed. There is no possibility that I mixed up the eggs because each set of parents had a different egg color. But the eggs did share an incubator. Like I said... trans-ovo-genetic exchange. The dark blue-green bill that Determination should have worn clearly migrated from the white egg of the first pair of parents to the green egg of the second set of parents and came out on Quack, while the orange bill migrated in reverse to land on Determination.

Trans-ovo genetic exchange. I have made a discovery!

............ hahahahaha!

 

[Duck Hill]

More strange genetics - keeps things fun and sure keeps me wondering!

What do you get when you cross a white drake with a dark duck? (Both are purebred Indian Runners.)


+ = ?

 

[Duck Hill]

You get a baby that is half dark (the top half), and...



...half pure white (the bottom half)



??? Go figure. Genetics are very strange, and just when you think you begin to understand, you get a baby that mixes up everything you thought you understood.

I know dad is white, but white is a gene that is supposed to affect the entire duck (if they get two copies of the gene) or not affect the duck at all (if they get one copy of the gene) since white is recessive.

I have had all four grandparents as babies and adults. Not one of them had a white belly.

P.S. this genetically strange but incredibly cute duckling is one of Cinnamon's grandbabies. And it is one of two look-alike twins (separate eggs, same parents and same hatch cycle) so this can't just be a genetic mutation in the embryo.

 

[Lil Drake40]

Love it!

 

[Widlast]

Hello all, It's been busy lately. I've had two peafowl hatch, both doing fine, 1 egg still in the incubator. The father is a Spalding (50% Indian Blue 50% Java Green) and carries the White gene, the mother is a Pied Indian Blue. So the first chick hatched (on the right) appears to be a Dark Pied (like daddy) while the 2nd hatched (on left) is Pied. Be interesting to see how they turn out. Have no idea as to gender yet. You can start to tell once they get about 6 months old.

 

[Widlast]

On another note, for those who might be interested, Green Hill Farm in Sharpsburg MD is having one of their poultry swap this Saturday June 9. It runs from 8 til 2, LOTS of poultry available at reasonable prices, and other stuff (rabbits, goats, etc.) also. Well worth the visit. Entry fee $5/person (kids under 12 free). they also have a Bluegrass band from 10-2.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Aww they are so cute Congrats!

 

[Widlast]

Poultry swap was fun. Picked up 3 hens for my big Welsummer roo Titan. And finally found some Silkies I'd wanted to get.
Here's the black roo, buff and dark partridge hens


and here's the light partridge hen

 

[Miss Lydia]

So sweet,

Wish we had swaps around here.