What color is this Muscovy?

[Caprice_Acres]

I have a partially feathered 8 week old 'scovy ducklng, in a color I haven't seen from my birds until this one.

At hatch, I thought it was a black. However, it now has white tipped black feathers on it's belly/underneath of tail. It's breast feathers are similar, except they look to be a brown or peach color with white tips (more peach towards head, more brown on the breast) - hard to say because he's a pied and most of the breast feathers are white. It's head appears to be a mix of those colors. Feathers that are coming in on it's wings are jet black with green sheen. They're getting to the age where I'm starting to tell the sexes apart - I'm pretty sure it's a male.

I think from the 8 I kept from his clutch of 16, I have 4 males, 4 females.

The dam is a chocolate pied, sire is a blue pied. Siblings were chocolate, white, color crested white, blue, black, and lilac.

I'm sorry the recent pictures are so poor quality - My actual camera broke so I'm stuck using my phone camera, which does a *pretty* good job but isn't ideal.

As a baby - he's the black one in the bottom right corner:

Back:

Belly:

Under-tail:

Side-shot:

 

[ilovemuscovy]

you get yourself a barred muscovy
aren't they just a pretty sight?

 

[Goat_Walker]

thats all I ever get out of my black x black scovies

, dont you just love it?

 

[MDC]

That is a black pied duckling. What you think might be barring is actually due to the 'wild type' gene. Those feathers will molt out around 12-14 weeks & will be sold black after that.

 

[ilovemuscovy]

Quote:
how do you know this? it's just that i have 2 barred ducks and i want to know if the same will happen to them.

 

[Bleenie]

It doesnt really look like barring to me, I have a black hen that hatched this year, she feathered in with some white/gold flecked feathers on her chest and tummy (wild type thing) She will molt them out eventually & be solid black with a bib. She is a little funky looking right now though, just like your guy. Still pretty though of course

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Yes, I agree with MDC and Bleenie, Black Pied duckling. Ducklings/Juvies have a tendancy to be a bit funky in the color dept. Throws you off sometime.

 

[Goat_Walker]

Really??? I didnt know that happened. ive always had barred juveniles but i guess i always sold them before their first molt

thanks for the info !

 

[Caprice_Acres]

I read on here that the 'wild types' have the four spots on the backs as ducklings? If so, this one DID have those 4 spots.

This one is odd because most of my pieds have white underbellies - with color just on the head and back. However, none of them have ever had the rippled face feathers, as I've had black headed black pied ducklings grow out, none ever looked like this one.

Thanks!

 

[MDC]

Barred ducklings are yellow downed as ducklings with "blue" bills & color-tipped tails. If you're familiar with the basic down colors of the varieties you can tell the color the barred duckling will be, most of the time by the color on the tip of the tail. I believe that the duckling in question is the black duckling in the first photo? That right there is enough to tell me that it is not barred, although it could possibly carry barred if there is barred in the parentage, it just won't express it.

That 'wild type' pattern of the black duckling in the first photo, sometimes referred to as the 4 spot pattern, also tells me that it is expressing typical wild type juvenile feathers which are usually lighter on the tips until the first molt. I, too, thought it was barring at first.

Barred ducks can be seen here: http://www.muscovyduckcentral.com/varieties.html and here: http://www.muscovyduckcentral.com/muscovyinfotwo.html

A barred duckling at hatch: