What color am I? (Duckling)

[Bolfreak]

Finally got a Crested baby - been working on this for a year and hatched out non Cresteds (Blue and Black Swedish, no Crests).
Drake: Standard Buff
Duck: White Crested
Options are:
Blue Mallard male
Mallard male
Buff Lilac Mallard female
Buff Chocolate Mallard female

Post your guesses! I will update with pics and dna results in a few weeks, which will tell if male/female to get us closer to the answer.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

It is hard to tell with the lighting in the first pictures and not a full body shot in the second. I also do not understand who you think the parents are. Were the standard buff and the white crested the grandparents? The crested gene is dominant but shows variable expression. Which means a duck can have the genes which say crested and the crest is so small we can’t see it (or they get a big crest) But, either can then pass it down.

 

[Bolfreak]

It is hard to tell with the lighting in the first pictures and not a full body shot in the second. I also do not understand who you think the parents are. Were the standard buff and the white crested the grandparents? The crested gene is dominant but shows variable expression. Which means a duck can have the genes which say crested and the crest is so small we can’t see it (or they get a big crest) But, either can then pass it down.

Those are inside the incubator still, as it dries it’s changed a bit. I thought more Blue but it’s become a bit more golden to the mallard pattern and the feet are brown and orange, unlike Blue.
The parents are the Buff & White because that’s what I have out there and I know who laid the egg. I tried my Crested ladies with a Black and a Blue drake and got the Bibs, but no Crest. I don’t want Bibs so didn’t keep them to see if they carried Crested genes or not. I’ve been intentionally trying for Crests for a year, but no dice until now. I bought a Crested Cayuga whose parents have no Crest so I have both types to compare, naturally occurring and inherited.
The options are what the color calculator said I’d get, I just wanted to see what people with experience thought before I dna test and plan the breeding.