Wry Tail in Ducks

[Quacking Pigeon]

One of my black muscovies that I bought last year, or earlier has wry tail. I noticed this when I put her in the quarantine pen. She is my nicest black Muscovy duck I own. I’ll get a picture of her today.

I was wondering how common wry tail is amongst ducks?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Heart about wry neck, but wry tail? @casportpony @Miss Lydia

 

[Miss Lydia]

I’ve heard of it in ducks not sure how common though.

 

[casportpony]

I've seen it in ducks, chickens, and one of my turkeys has it. Sadly, it's considered a fault, so I personally won't breed one with it.

Edited to add:
All ducks I hatch with wry tail get sold. I think it's a recessive gene, but not positive. Maybe @Pyxis or someone else with genetic knowledge can comment on what that would mean.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Here is a 2016 BYC thread about wry tail:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wry-tail.1098926/

 

[casportpony]

Here is a 2016 BYC thread about wry tail:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wry-tail.1098926/

Good link!

It is unknown if it is genetically passed to offspring as there isn't much extensive research that has been done solely on wry tail in ducks. Mainly because they are culled and not used for breeding (birds with deformities shouldn't be bred in the first place).

Interestingly, since removing all wry tailed ducks from my flock I have not seen any in 3 or 4 years, so IMO, in my flock it was hereditary.

 

[Quacking Pigeon]

I've seen it in ducks, chickens, and one of my turkeys has it. Sadly, it's considered a fault, so I personally won't breed one with it.

Edited to add:
All ducks I hatch with wry tail get sold. I think it's a recessive gene, but not positive. Maybe @Pyxis or someone else with genetic knowledge can comment on what that would mean.

I’ve bred from the duck, and none of her offspring have had wry tail....thinking about it they may have been her offspring or my other black muscovies, who knows at this point.

 

[Quacking Pigeon]

I've seen it in ducks, chickens, and one of my turkeys has it. Sadly, it's considered a fault, so I personally won't breed one with it.

Edited to add:
All ducks I hatch with wry tail get sold. I think it's a recessive gene, but not positive. Maybe @Pyxis or someone else with genetic knowledge can comment on what that would mean.

I don’t even know genetics that well, but wouldn’t it take at least two birds that carry the gene to produce a bird with it? And if one bird doesn’t have it, the offspring that may not show it, would carry the gene.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hopefully @Pyxis can help you understand it better.

 

[Pyxis]

This info is coming from a chicken perspective, because it's not well known in ducks, but it's probably similar. Wry tail shouldn't be bred from, at least from a viewpoint of breeding for quality and towards the SOP. When caused by genetics, it's most likely a recessive gene, but it's not yet fully understood.

Because it's recessive, you don't want to breed it on. If it's genetic, all those ducks you hatched from her eggs are probably carrying it, and then they'll breed and some of their offspring end up carrying it, and then down the line suddenly it's popping up in a lot of your birds because you've filled the flock with birds that are carrying it, and you might not even know which ones at that point, making it a nightmare to get rid of once it gets to that point.

There is the chance that it was caused by something else; according to Holderread it can be things like being stuck in a bad position in the egg, vitamin deficiencies, or an injury. You have to decide if it's worth it to you to take the chance that it might something like that, or if it's genetic and you might end with a flock full of carriers by breeding her.