Golden Duckwing Silver Duckwing Color Cross Project!

[Chicken-Eye]

I'm putting off my green eye color project for a bit to breed a golden duckwing plumage with a silver duckwing plumage. What 2 breeds should I use? What kind of plumage would I get from this pair? (Buying these chickens from a very reputable breeder)

 

[3riverschick]

breed a golden duckwing plumage with a silver duckwing plumage. What 2 breeds should I use? What kind of plumage would I get from this pair? (Buying these chickens from a very reputable breeder)

well it depends on if the 2 Duckwings are built on the same allele. Probably either eWh ( Wheaten) or e+ ( wildtype). A Golden Duckwing is a Silver Duckwing carrying one gold gene. A Silver Duckwing is a Duckwing that is Silver and carries no Gold gene. Hopefully, there are not other color modifiers or recessive genes hiding in the birds. Like Autosomal red. It can hide in Silver Duckwings making the shoulder patch just a bit darker then usual. A Silver Duckwing which had autosomal red is really a Red Shouldered Silver Duckwing. Now a Golden Duckwing will have a slight cream tint to it's white hackle. If you breed a Red Shouldered Silver Duckwing to a Golden Duckwing, the autosomal red will cause the cream in the hackle to become darker, spoiling that pretty look by making the hackle look "dirty".
If I was doing this cross, I would use a breed which had been bred true for those color for many generations. Where it was known in that breed that the color bred true by tradition. I am thinking Game Fowl. Not Marans where the autosomal red can cause problems. Buy from a breeder who specializes in those colors . Golden Duckwing will not breed true. Silver Duckwing will. If you sell any of these birds from this cross make sure the buyer understands they are color-crossed Duckwings and what genetics that entails. Otherwise the buyers may misunderstand the genetics of what they have..
Best,
Using bird with different allele bases can add to problems as you are now not only crossing color but color foundations. Try to stick with the same allele base for each color.
Karen

 

[Chicken-Eye]

Wow! Thanks so much! I really didn't expect to get so much information from this thread, but you have most definitely helped tons.

 

[3riverschick]

Wow! Thanks so much! I really didn't expect to get so much information from this thread, but you have most definitely helped tons.

More than welcome. Due to improperly colored foundation stock, innocently purchased, I had Golden Duckwing invade a breeding program where I was trying to breed Black Breasted Red Marans ( BB Red) . Sigh. Then I unknowingly added in autosomal red and ended up with Red Shouldered Silver Duckwings. What a mess, the autosomal red polluted everything. It is very difficult to find in the chick down and juvenile feathering. Unless you become a serous student of proper chick down. I was so surprised at how just the slightest different in a tint in chick down in these color could manifest such differences in the adult coloring. Autosomal red is a real "sticky" color factor. Tough to get rid of once it invades a breeding program. I still see a notable number of people on the Net touting the lovely pics of their Silver Duckwings when it is obvious from the darker red patch on the shoulder that they really have Red Shouldered Silver Duckwings and are polluted with autosomal red.
Here, read this page of posts.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/776244/breeding-golden-duckwing-marans/10
It's an in-depth discussion of my problems in that Marans breeding program. With genetic formulas and URL's to pics of the colors. We were discussing the Red Shouldered Silver Duckwing rooster in post # 12 which was thought to be a Golden Duckwing.
The only way to keep autosomal red out is to use absolutely pure Golden Duckwing and Silver duckwing. Come to think of it, Ann Charles I think has both colors in her superb Araucana breeding program. She owns the great ezine http://www.exhibitionpoultry.net/ Her website is www.Skyblueegg.com That would be a neat breed to use. You would get the colors and cool colored eggs too. Ann has lovely show quality birds too. So you would get breed type, colored eggs and proper colors. I know the website is 2015. Give Ann a call and see what she has this year.

A Gold Duckwing is a Gold based bird. A Golden Duckwing is Silver based bird. Sigh, what confusion, smile.
This is why being able to converse in the genetic formulas is so valuable when breeding these colors. There are a number of "hobby" names for these different Duckwing colors. The color experts give advice by genetic formula. It is the best way to understand exactly which color one is discussing. The BYC poster, Marvin ( BYC nick is : nicalandia) is a human genetic calculator. VBG. Real nice guy. Excellent in giving color genetics advice. Here is his BYC profile, shoot him some questions. https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/36900/nicalandia Marvin is also a BYC Educator. A title only conferred by the BYC staff to folk considered very highly qualified experts in their area of knowledge. Educator is the only merit badge which cannot be nominated by the BYC membership.
Best,
Karen