SWEDISH Duck Thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ducksanddoxies]

She is pretty. I like it when they are unique.

 

[KristiKaty]

I'm a TOTAL NEWBIE here, but I'm here to learn and plan to be posting a lot. My 16-year-old daughter Kristi who has Aspergers began raising ducks last year. She made her own incubator and had just one hatch and survive last year. This year, she has had 22 hatch successfully so far in her homemade incubator (with more coming).

Anyway, we have 4 Mallards.... 3 hens and 1 drake. Our drake is the one that hatched last year. Until then, we only had the 3 hens.

Our drake was an egg my daughter found at the pond. We had no idea what is would turn out to be, but he looks 100% Mallard, maybe Rouen because he is quite a bit larger than our hens. His colors are not as vibrant though.

2 of our hens were caught in the wild by a friend of mine and I bought them from her. The mom looked like a full mallard, but who knows. Our 3rd hen was bought at the local feed store. We specifically ordered a mallard. We actually ordered a boy and a girl, but the boy died.

Anyway, about 6 weeks ago, we had our first hatchlings of the season. The first one ("Christian") was mostly yellow and looked NOTHING like a mallard! As all of our ducks are mallards, we were confused! Granted, 3 of the 4 are ducks from the wild, so who knows what their genetic makeup is.

Christian (left):




The second hatchling ("Tetsin") came a few days later and it was almost entirely like a metallic silver.... Absolutely gorgeous! This one totally came out of left field! I had never seen a silver duck before.

Tetsin at a few days old:




As this duckling grew older, it began to develop a very interesting look. I sent pictures to the friend I got the 2 hen mallards from and she said it looked like a Blue Swiss. I had never heard of those before, but looked it up. It seems our duck looks like the PERFECT Blue Swiss duck. It is 7 weeks old now and is definitely a female (has a very loud quack).

Testin & Christian at 6 weeks old: Clearly, Christian has quite a bit of Pekin genes from somewhere. Tetsin clearly looks like a Blue Swedish. She has 5 white flight feathers on one wing and 7 on the other. Christian is most likely a male, since at 7 weeks, he still does not have a quack. He actually sounds just like his dad.











And, the parents: (No, we are not certain which hen is the mom). Our drake is losing his breeding feathers, but during the winter and early spring, he had the perfect male mallard look. His name is "Lucky."




My question is, with all of you guys talking about how difficult it is to get the "perfect" Blue Swedish, even when both parents are 100% Blue Swedish, how could this have happened?

Also, if we use this duck to breed next season (with a 100% Blue Swedish that we will have to buy between now and then), what are the chances of those genes being carried down to the babies?

 

[buff goose guy]

I was reading something about yellow Swedish ducks . Are they just buff ducks ?

 

[bird9]

So hard to say with genetics! My 'White' duck is a leucistic Swedish. I would have sworn she was a pekin, but here are pics of her 7 babies. The drake is a Khaki Campbell. Christian could be a mix, or part leucistic - I have learned that 15% of swedish are born yellow or yellowish and are missing at least some pigmentation. Also, a pair of mallards at my lake had 2 total white babies one year, so????? All I can say is that you have cute ducks

...And yes that is an ashtray - it was cheaper than a plastic bowl and right size for brooder

 

[buff goose guy]

So cute !

 

[farmgirl360]

What does a male and female black Swedish duck look like I need to know for 4-h

 

[buff goose guy]

Just always an easy way to tell is the curled tail feathers on the male

I don't have Swedish but that's how you can tell for every breed of duck but the Muscovy .

 

[farmgirl360]

I knew about the tail feathers but I really don't know Becuase they are roughly 2or 3 months old and one of them also has a puff of feathers on its head It appeared shortly after there feathers came also if anyone knows what male and female welsh harliquin ducks look like

 

[subhanalah]

I knew about the tail feathers but I really don't know Becuase they are roughly 2or 3 months old and one of them also has a puff of feathers on its head It appeared shortly after there feathers came also if anyone knows what male and female welsh harliquin ducks look like

there is a welsh harlequin thread, but they change appearance a LOT before full grown.

Listen to your duck's quacks, that's the best way to tell boy from girl at this age

 

[KristiKaty]

Females have a very distinctive loud quack. Males have a much lower pitched voice and it sounds kind of nasally/raspy. They typically get their voices all settled around 6 weeks of age.