White Saxony Duckling?

[katharinad]

So here are my baby Saxony ducks. They are now about 5 weeks old and one of them is white. It does have a whitish ring around its neck, but it is very hard to see. I guess we will see what happens once it molts.

 

[javajanie]

I know nothing about Saxony ducks, but they are gorgeous!

 

[HiddenHill Heretic]

Ditto. I know nothing but your ducks are gorgeous. Seeing these pics inspired me to search for eggs to hatch underneath one of my broody hens. Hope the white is a saxony.

 

[katharinad]

I love the white one, even if it doesn't turn out to look like the others. It is more a cream color, so not really white at all. It's name is Goldy, not sure about the sex yet. They are so sweet and they all run up to me when I call them.

 

[briarpatchfarms]

Saxony's are my second fav. next to Calls. I love there color the most I think thats what has me hooked, they resemble the Butterscotch Calls! I think I may have to get me some now haha!

Did your start from a breeder or where! because what Im thinking is if you line can from a breeder then they might of crossed the Saxony to a Pekin to improve on type!

 

[katharinad]

I've ordered eggs and hatched them. So these are from a private person, and she does not have Pekins. So we are all a little bit puzzled at the moment. I have to wait for the molt to see what happens. The duck is cream colored and shows a small white ring around the neck. I guess we have some odd genetic mutation going on with this one. I have two more birds and they are Holderread offsprings. They finally go along with each other. We've them mainly for future eating egg production. I will also offer hatching eggs for sale next year, but for that they will be grouped correctly. I'm just starting with my ducks after not having ducks for years. Kind of a new re-start. We are still building our new facility to get back into it.
Have to mention one of my young female Saxony ducks started to fly yesterday. Not far and not high either, but she did. She got about 1 foot of the ground and flew about 5 feet. She is still trying to get higher, but that will not be happening. She is just to heavy. It was fun to watch her doing it.

 

[CityChicker]

I don't know what would cause the white neck ring you are seeing. I would have to see it. In the pic, the bird looks solid white. White ducklings popping up in Saxonies is not that unusual. I have heard several people have that happen. I remember last year we had a member here that even got some free White Saxonies from Holderreads as bonus ducklings. Obviously, some lines of Saxonies carry recessive white or were outcrossed to something white at some point (probably Pekins).

 

[katharinad]

I thought that this was what it was. A gene thing. The original Saxony ducks were bread out of Rouen, German Pekin, and Blue Pomeranian ducks. So there is no real surprise, if one of the originals pop back out of the gene pool. The duck is cream colored and has the little white ring around the neck like the others. It is very faint and you have to look really close. I don't think a camera will pick up on it. Will be interesting to see what happens when it molts. It's only 5 weeks old, but a real sweety.

 

[CityChicker]

The cream color can very well be just a feed thing. Solid white ducks (c/c) can vary from very white to a creamy off-white to even almost a buttery yellow. The color popping up just means that some Saxonies are heteroygous for white (C/c). That said, if your goal is to breed Saxonies that only look like Saxonies, I would not breed from the White. If she gets paired with another split white (what her parents would have been if they looked Saxony), 50% of the offspring would be white. You probably don't want that (unless of course, you want to start a line of white Saxonies).

As far as molting, that shouldn't matter. She should remain white. The thing that would concern me the most is if she really does have a distinct neck ring and it is not just an optical illusion or something (so hard to tell from pictures). The recessive White is a problem, but if it is not recessive white it could be an even bigger problem. Once your birds are feathered out in adult plumage, we can tell more. Seeing pictures of the other person's adult breeder ducks would help too. If she is just extremely lightened because they have brown or buff dilution in their Saxonies, that is very hard to decipher and eliminate.

Editing to add- Now that I look at all the other birds in the picture, it does worry me a bit. It will be interesting to see how they feather out, but even incorrect genotype Saxonies are gorgeous so I am not sure if matters to you if you are breeding for fun or for pets. Keep in mind, the genotype we use for Saxony has also changed over time. Holderreads have gone by at least two different genotypes over the years, so it is no surprise that they vary (currently wild type plus Bl/Bl li/li is the accepted correct color).

 

[katharinad]

My ducks are pets and we want to eat their eggs. We may sell eggs for eating, but that depends on production. Down the road we may also sell fertile eggs, but for that we will only use good breeding stock from non related ducks. We plan on ordering some from Holderread next spring. We already have a pair of Holderread stock. The young ones in the picture are a complete different group, and they are a bit in question. We will see how they feather out. They are a group of 11, and we still have to see how many drakes I have to rehome. So far we know of 3 girls for sure from their voices that just changed like 2 days ago.