Runner Duck Color Genetics

[pips&peeps]

Ok, I admit I know nothing about duck breeding......

I have a question about coloring. I originally had blue and chocolate runner ducks, the males were chocolate, and females of both varieties. I hatched some of their eggs and got some blues, some chocolate blues and one black. I kept the black. He is black with nice green sheen on his head and wing band.

Anyhoo, I now have the black drake over some new black hens and would like to know if these birds will breed true black.

Also, I will have runner duck eggs if anyone wants to try to hatch some. I would consider them pet quality, they came from Metzer Farms.

Thanks for the help,

 

[CityChicker]

They should breed true. Blue is incompletely dominant, so if the birds do not show blue, they are not carrying it. The sex-linked brown of the chocolate is always shown in the phenotype of a hen with it, so if the hens are black, they are not carrying the brown (even though it is a recessive). The Black drake might be heterozygous for brown but would have to be paired to a chocolate female to get any chocolate offspring. They should breed true. There are a couple other recessives that it would be theoretically possible for them to carry, but it would be highly unusual in extended black ducks.