What breed/color is this pair of ducks. Help I think they are not what I think

[r4eboxer]

They do look like silver appleyards, the male more than the female to me, but it is not a great pic of the feamale so hard to tell. They do have mini silver appleyards so maybe?

not silver appleyards. I'm going to spill because I did an internet image search and I guess these are SILKIE BLUE FAWN BANTAM DUCKS. I just thought they would be more 'blue' or grey. I was totally thrown when I opened up the box and the female looked brown and the male was different colored, but then again what do I know. lol

I wanted to be sure before I offered eggs to anyone, that is a ways off but I didn't want to offer eggs if the wrong shipping label was put on my box KWIM. I love the ducks they are so small and so sweet!

 

[Herducks]

Are their feathers silkie? It does not look like it in the picture?

 

[r4eboxer]

Are their feathers silkie? It does not look like it in the picture?

Yes they are wispy too, I was taking pics with my ipad so they aren't that great. You can see the silkie feathers around the bottom. I'll post a few more shots I have



The coloring on the drakes back is so beautiful but I still don't see blue

 

[Nebraskagirl]

Why would they not TELL you what the breed is? Or did they? I just can't understand why they would not label the breed somehow.

With that said, they are very pretty! They look healthy too, so that is great!

 

[Nebraskagirl]

Oh wait, they DID tell you the breed then. I totally misunderstood your previous posts. Sorry!

 

[r4eboxer]

Oh wait, they DID tell you the breed then. I totally misunderstood your previous posts. Sorry!

NP, I was just confused because I figured they would be more blue or grey looking and thought maybe I got the wrong ones. Silly me. LOL

 

[Senna95]

The female looks right for a blue-fawn. The addition of just one "blue" gene just means that all the black has been diluted to a bluish-gray, so in a mallard patten it would be brown feathers rimmed with gray rather than black.

The male should have a dark blue-gray head instead of the regular beetle-green, and the black on his rump should also be grayish rather then black (again, the same markings and colors as regular mallard, but with all the black diluted to gray)

Incidently, if you breed 2 blue-fawns together, you will have multi-colored offspring:

25% apricot
50% blue fawn
25% wild colored (regular mallard pattern/color)

 

[r4eboxer]

The female looks right for a blue-fawn. The addition of just one "blue" gene just means that all the black has been diluted to a bluish-gray, so in a mallard patten it would be brown feathers rimmed with gray rather than black.

The male should have a dark blue-gray head instead of the regular beetle-green, and the black on his rump should also be grayish rather then black (again, the same markings and colors as regular mallard, but with all the black diluted to gray)

Incidently, if you breed 2 blue-fawns together, you will have multi-colored offspring:

25% apricot
50% blue fawn
25% wild colored (regular mallard pattern/color)

Thank you so much for all the info. Especially the offspring percentage. I'm copying this for future reference. I think I should have eggs this spring and am going to keep my bators busy. I hope I get some good hatch rates.

I'm going to check the male now. I'm sure it's correct. David Holderread of course knows what he is doing, I do not at this point.

eta: Ok just back in from the duck pens, he does not have a green head it is dark dark blue/or very grey, and yes the female is rimmed with grey. I know silkies were crossed because they were hard to incubate in the early years of development. I guess these were crossed with a Mallard back in the line somewhere?