Muscovy Ducks come in many patterns and colors. I specialize in barred, ripple, and looney patterns in all colors. All pictures and all birds are my own
Pied Muscovy- a white duck with random patches of color (can be any color). I personally am a fan of spots and pied patterns so most of the colors and patterns I breed are available pied.
Barred Muscovy- as pictured below, barred muscovy hatch with yellow down and colored tails. The tail will determine the feather color as adults. The barring shows up best as juveniles but will molt out leaving mainly the breast, belly, and back feathers barred with the rest being solid. I offer all colors in the barred pattern and am breeding towards a flock that keeps the barring rather than molting it all out
Young black barred muscovy drake. This drake shows how they are fully barred as juveniles. When he molted, he was solid black with barring only showing on his lower chest, belly, and his back under his wings.
Black barred muscovy hen with a black barred, bibbed, juvenile hen behind her. This picture shows what barred ducklings look like. They are a week old in the picture. Some are black (black), some are dark gray (blues) and some are light gray (silvers).
Ripple: Ripples are fairly uncommon in muscovy, therefore harder to find. They are found in most colors with dark (black) and chocolate being the most common. Lavender, blue, and combination colors such as lilacs are more rare. Unlike the barred pattern, the ripple pattern will show on all feathers and will NOT molt out. The difference is this. Barring is a color (black, chocolate, blue, etc) and white in a striped pattern on the feather. Rippling is one color in 1-2 shades on each feather, no white, but also in a striped pattern.
They also can have different types of ripples from thin lines very close together, to thicker lines and even lacing mixed in. As ducklings, these do not stand out. Unless you know the parents are both ripples, you will not know ducklings are ripples until they start to feather. I have yet to find a trait in them that makes them stand out from non ripples until feathered. |
Looney: Looney muscovy are uncommon and hard to come by. Since there are very few pictures online of this pattern, I have taken the time this season to hatch out my own to document for those who are interested. COMING SOON, LOONEY DOCUMENTATION FROM HATCHING RIGHT UP TO FEATHERING!
Looney is a cross between a barred and a ripple so the offspring carry and show both of these genes at the same time. In order for a bird to be a true looney, they must get a barred AND a ripple gene from BOTH parents. Otherwise they are one or the other, carrying genes of the one pattern they are lacking.
Below are pics in their juvenile feather stage. Notice how one shows the rippling very well (the dark one) while the lighter three do not. They look more barred than rippled, yet they have an unusual amount of white in the barring. These three are the results of a barred to ripple breeding, but did not get a ripple copy from both parents. Hence why they are only showing the barring in their feathers.
Looney is a cross between a barred and a ripple so the offspring carry and show both of these genes at the same time. In order for a bird to be a true looney, they must get a barred AND a ripple gene from BOTH parents. Otherwise they are one or the other, carrying genes of the one pattern they are lacking.
Below are pics in their juvenile feather stage. Notice how one shows the rippling very well (the dark one) while the lighter three do not. They look more barred than rippled, yet they have an unusual amount of white in the barring. These three are the results of a barred to ripple breeding, but did not get a ripple copy from both parents. Hence why they are only showing the barring in their feathers.
As seen below, Looney ducklings hatch looking like barred ducklings. So far the only difference I've noticed is that the tail coloring is lighter and theres less of it than on the barred. Some will even have a grey coloring under the down and grey on the head. But so far I have not found any differences that make looneys different than barred as ducklings.
Muscovy ducks are recognized in Black, Blue, White and Chocolate. All other colors originate from one of these and are not yet recognized in most shows. But the Muscovy breed can hold many genes which results in gorgeous colors in some offspring.
Chocolate: Chocolate is pretty straight forward. Dark brown, but may be light brown as they tend to sun bleach easier and faster than other colors.
Blue fawn (also known as lilac): is a mix of blue and chocolate. Due to the blue genes at play, these can be various shades of color but all show chocolate and blue tones in their feather color.
Blue fawn (also known as lilac): is a mix of blue and chocolate. Due to the blue genes at play, these can be various shades of color but all show chocolate and blue tones in their feather color.
Black and Blue: Blue is a dilution of the color black. Blue comes in more than one shade (light and dark) and commonly has lacing on the feathers. They can also have black feathers pop through the blues.
Silver: This is result of a double blue. These are lighter than the light blues and commonly mistaken for lavenders or even lilacs. The difference is, silvers look lilac as juveniles (a light grey color with chocolate or buff tones) whereas lavenders are a smooth dark grey all over. No chocolate or buff tones.
Silver: This is result of a double blue. These are lighter than the light blues and commonly mistaken for lavenders or even lilacs. The difference is, silvers look lilac as juveniles (a light grey color with chocolate or buff tones) whereas lavenders are a smooth dark grey all over. No chocolate or buff tones.
Lavender: Lavender is black with a pastel gene. In order to get lavenders, you need to breed two lavenders or lavender carriers. This isn't a color you can simply "make" by mixing other colors together.
DUCKLING COLORS: One project I am working on is a place where people can go to compare duckling colors. That way if you are unsure about a duckling you have, you can come here and see what color it most resembles. It's hard for me to post duckling pics then pics of the same one as an adult as most get sold. But I will do my best this year to get pics!
Blue Ducklings: Pic on left are pied atipico (notice one has more white than the other). Pic on right is a "wild type" blue. This one will likely grow up to be solid blue with a white head (white head is a dominant gene in my flock)
White Ducklings: Duckling on the left is yellow with a pink bill and pink feet. This one will be a solid white adult. If the duckling looks like this but has a dark spot on it's head, then it will be white with a "cap" in the color of the spot (black and chocolate caps are the most common)
Buff/Silver/Cream Ducklings: These are the hardest to differentiate as babies. The duckling on the right in this picture would be in this category. They can easily be mistaken for whites, except they have a more creamy hue to their down, and they tend to have some blueish hues on their bills, sometimes they have darker colored feet. My guess is that this is a silver duckling as both parents are blues.
Buff/Silver/Cream Ducklings: These are the hardest to differentiate as babies. The duckling on the right in this picture would be in this category. They can easily be mistaken for whites, except they have a more creamy hue to their down, and they tend to have some blueish hues on their bills, sometimes they have darker colored feet. My guess is that this is a silver duckling as both parents are blues.
Barred Ducklings: Not the best picture, but the bottom duckling is solid white with a black tail and some black shades along the neck and head. This will be a black barred adult. The top duckling is solid white with just the very tips of the tail colored. It's so faint that its hard to tell if its black or blue. But generally the color of the tail determines the color barring the bird will be