Will our WH/BO drake change in appearance?

[Akpahsj]

Hi, so we have a Welsh Harlequin Drake and a Buff Orpington hen, and in the spring my hen laid eggs and two hatched. One died, so we took care of the duckling until he grew old enough to put with his parents.
He does not look like either duck, he is a grayish brownish color with a large white ring around his neck.
He was born July 9, and were wondering if he will stay like this or will he molt and look like his father?
Thanks!

This is our WH Drake.

This is our BO Hen. She bends her neck in a weird way.

This is our young drake, Dave,

 

[GrannyCarol]

Oh, he's pretty! He's not going to be his father's color, looks like he's got a dilution gene from his mother and possibly a dusky. How old is he? I would think its possible that he'll get a gray head and have the pretty colored body as is.

 

[FarmrGirl]

I bet he browns up beautifully... there's something about the WH brown gene that makes beautiful baby boys! Your boy will get a green (or black) head and probably a lovely outter layer of milk chocolate with a darker harlequin underneath. mmmmm....

A cross between my WH drake and my blue Ancona girl: about 5-days old

He's just gotten in his mature feathers, until then he was blue just like his mom, then... wow! Who's that drake? LOL! He's a big boy too... bigger than either of his parents. I'm thinking of naming him Shamoo because he has an orca looking head that's solid black.

Here's Dad and Mom:

 

[Oregon Blues]

One of th reasons for purebreds is that you know what you will get. Purebreds are going to be a predictable color.

When you cross breed, you don't get that. The appearance is a wild card. If you want ducklings that look like their parents, get purebreds and breed them purebred.

 

[Senna95]

He should be all dusky with a single blue dilution. He also will carry recessive harlequin, as well as a recessive sex-linked buff dilution.

With the blue dilution he should have a dark grey head, not green like his father.

It's interesting to see the neck ring. Wouldn't have expected that.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Looks like your hen has wry neck

 

[Akpahsj]

FarmrGirl your ducks look great! Our young drake is also bigger than both of his parents.

He is only just over 4 months old.

And yes, our hen does that with her neck, it usually doesn't look like that it was just windy and the feathers kind of flew up. I actually posted some pics of the pair on here when we first got them. They did not look very good and were missing a lot of feathers. You could actually see our hens bones on her wings. Whoever had them before probably didn't take care of them too good. I have to say, they look great now!

I'm also wondering, will my hen lay eggs all year round? We got them in May, and she has only had one clutch. Our drake did go through his molt, but he got his green head at the beginning of October.

Thanks Lots Guys!!

 

[Akpahsj]

These are pictures of him as a baby.

 

[FarmrGirl]

Yeah! he looks alot like mine did as a baby. He was all one color for a long time (blue) then finally matured enough to get his adult feathering in. He looks like a completely different boy now. And I really love the mixture of light on dark brown over the blue. So shiny too

I bet yours gets that pretty brown over his baby feathers too.