Backyard Poultry Forum

Hi to all at BYP, what a great informative cross section of topics on this site. My user name 'Tabooba' may be familiar to some from AMF where I occasionally posted info and photos of "white hatched" ducklings. In early 2009 a couple of "white hatched" ducklings appeared from the mating of a blue & white drake and duck which were given to me as adults. The two "white hatched" matured into a solid bronze drake and blue & white drake. These 2 "white hatched" drakes were mated to their normal colour hatched siblings, the result of these matings produced approx 50% "white hatched" offspring. Mating "white hatched" drakes with "white hatched" ducks produced 100% "white hatched" ducklings, as seen in photos below (except the one yellow one - rogue egg?)
If anyone has info regarding "white hatched" ducklings could they please share their thoughts.

nothing really to add other than how cute the ducklings are!!

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Ravyk
4 Wyandottes, 2 Dogs, 1 Carpet Python, 1 Green Tree Frog, Tropical Fish, 2 Blue Yabbie, 1 Fiancé and a bub on the way.
It's a ZOO!

Wow, I've not seen anything like that before. Is it rare? They are seriously cute.

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Lucy C and The Blue Mountains Menagerie
1 God, 1 husband, 2 Teens, 2 Dogs, 7 Sussex, 3 Wyandottes, 11 Silkies, 1 Barnevelder, 3 Budgies & 3 Goats

Seriously amazing.

I would really like to see this explained genetically.

So irrespective of the down colour, they develop into predictably patterned adults?

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Be kind to unkind people – they need it the most.

this is just a result of the combination of genes that are avalible in the breeding stock.
a closer look at the "white hatched" shows they are not all the same either.

Nice hatches N&C, as I suspected a recessive gene. I'm not sure I agree with RnBs and as you have seen they do come in a range of white depending on the adult colour. Yep white, white and white. The only difference I saw in your first few batches was bill and leg colour, and predictably they grew into the corresponding adult colour (blue and black - had dark beaks and legs from memory). The gene only appears to affect the down colour - just amazing!! As soon as adult type feathering grows the adult colouration can be seen. I'm just waiting for more of those fawn and cream ducks to look at.
Bushy

i wonder how this effects the type of ducklings. how would you know if they are atipico or wild type? or are they indeed a different "type"

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http://morrisonmuscovy.doodlekit.com

agreed






Bushy if you have another look at the white ducklings, especially in the pic with mother duck, they are not all the same, there are different bill colours as you suggested, but there a ducklings with dark marks on the crown, and dark coloured tails and what appear to be full whites aswell, i can see a few variations in the white.

Thanks for pointing that out - there is a bit more variation in these latter batches than the first few batches.
I haven't seen this phenotype in the "typical large show strains". Apparently the gene was in at least one farmers property around the Boonah area around 20+ years ago, then popped up at N&C's out of a pair of blue and whites - history unknown - resident leaving the area.
N&C's muscovies are in addition to this absense of yellow in duckling down colour, is producing a range of colour variations with hints of fawn and mahogany on either blue or white/cream backgrounds. The birds are producing reasonably solid colours as well which isn't all that common for South East QLD. The odd colours don't appear to be explained by the known genetic patterns.

That is amazing! Truly amazing.

I have read about white hatch ducks http://books.google.com/books?id=VMSF7m ... &q&f=false but never actually seen a picture.

Can you please post more pictures as they grow, I am curious to see more. Can you post some pictures when they are partly feathered please?

Do you ever sell any ducks that have the white hatch gene? I would love to get some in my flock so that I could look at them up close.

also can you post some pics of there parents please, truely amazing

They are gorgeous

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I have chooks, muscoveys, geese, parrots, cats, dogs and 1 long suffering hubby

Thanks to all for your comments on white hatched ducklings.

Yes presumably it is rare

Me too!

Yes - as predictable as muscovy colour/patterns can be.

Good questions! (which means I don't know)

Thanks for that web site. I hope the following pics at various stages satifies your curiosity. Pic 1. 12 days, Pic 2. 6 weeks, Pic 3. 8 weeks, Pic 4. 14.5 weeks

The 12 ducklings in pic with mum in original post were separated into dark beaked 7, and pink beaked 4, and yellow duckling. Pic1. day old, Pic.2 4 weeks, Pic.3 6weeks Pic.4 13 weeks.

"Yellow" duckling is on the right (of the 2 white ducklings in this photo)
As for selling ducks, I am thinking about it. Hoping to improve size and type first, what price would you suggest, maybe auction?

Mother of 4 white hatched 11.10.11 is white with fawn (?) markings, also white hatched. Father is either blue and white drake white hatched or fawn drake not white hatched.
The mother of 12 ducklings hatched 22.10.11 is below.

The father/s of the 12 ducklings is same as above.
Thanks for your interest, and Merry Christmas to all
Tabooba

It is very likely a single mutation responsible in your Muscovy that largely affects down pigmentation, especially carotenoids (no yellow down), but maybe not all eumelanin (some melanin ? leakage in some instances?). Try test breeding a white hatched drake (doesn't matter adult colour) over a duck from totally different source not known to breed white downed ducklings (shouldn't be hard to find) to help determine gene status, eg, sex-linkage, recessive etc.

A similar phenomenon has been recorded in mallard derived ducks & chickens to my knowledge Link (briefly discussed in "Poultry Breeding & Genetics" text also). Although found to be a recessive, I don't think mode of inheritance was ever determined in the mallard ducks, nor whether single gene involvement (simple recessive). In chickens it was found to be an autosomal simple recessive I believe!

Look after them well!

A belated thank you Rollyard for your comments re: "white hatched ducklings", always informative. As you suggested I recently test mated a pair to help determine gene status - nothing hatched (bad management/bloody rats )
However thanks to diaries and pics I realised I did this exercise in Oct 2010 - no white hatched ducklings resulted.
Below pic of parents. Drake - (white hatched) blue/brown and white. Duck normal white (by bushmans bronze and white drake)

Below pic of resulting 6 ducklings hatched 30.10.2010

Below pics of above ducklings at 4 months old.

2 females.........2xmales foreground.......1 male..........1 male

Earlier this year 2 "white hatched" ducklings hatched in first week of january, parents both "white hatched".

Parents.........ducklings at 10 days....ducklings at 6 weeks
Latest hatching 5 ducklings 25/26 january 2012, from eggs collected from (pictured to the right) pen of 6 white hatched ducks and 2 white hatched drakes.
These 5 ducklings (pictured below) will be offered for sale at the annual Beaudesert Poultry auction on sunday 26th February 2012.
http://www.beaupoultry.com/index.php?p=1-1 (Catalogues available mid week)