First duckling hatch of 2025!

[My15Ducks]

Carter and Barry are already 2.5 weeks old! These pictures are a couple days old.

I put 16 more eggs in the incubator today. The dad is Banana, who is hopefully a buff mallard, and not an apricot - so hopefully the babies will be sex linked. But this batch is a bit of a color test so I will see. The 2 moms are a Cayuga mix, and a black runner

 

[Bolfreak]

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Carter and Barry are already 2.5 weeks old! These pictures are a couple days old.

I put 16 more eggs in the incubator today. The dad is Banana, who is hopefully a buff mallard, and not an apricot - so hopefully the babies will be sex linked. But this batch is a bit of a color test so I will see. The 2 moms are a Cayuga mix, and a black runner

They are lovely!! I’m going to say a Blue and a Blue Splash. Did you determine if they came from the Runners? Runners come in such cool colors, but I don’t like the body type.
You’ll do nicely with the sex linkage of Buff on Black. Other than the ‘ x buff? mallard’ of the girls, the rest are easy to see at hatch.
Here are my Splash babies going for a swim and a snack…I teach mine early to eat dandelions

 

[My15Ducks]

They are lovely!! I’m going to say a Blue and a Blue Splash. Did you determine if they came from the Runners? Runners come in such cool colors, but I don’t like the body type.
You’ll do nicely with the sex linkage of Buff on Black. Other than the ‘ x buff? mallard’ of the girls, the rest are easy to see at hatch.
Here are my Splash babies going for a swim and a snack…I teach mine early to eat dandelions

I still don’t know if they are from the Runners, but I think they are. I guess I should be able to tell by their body shape when they get bigger. Also I’ve never had a spotted duckling like this from my other ducks.

Your ducklings are super cute. Does splash just mean white spots - or is it the light blue almost white color? I’ve read different things

 

[Bolfreak]

I still don’t know if they are from the Runners, but I think they are. I guess I should be able to tell by their body shape when they get bigger. Also I’ve never had a spotted duckling like this from my other ducks.

Your ducklings are super cute. Does splash just mean white spots - or is it the light blue almost white color? I’ve read different things

In this case mom was one of my Lilac Cayugas for sure, but dad could be one of three options. The obvious choice is the drake that brooded with them, a Blue (not sex linked, he was from my Black Cayuga on Buff duck). Those options are Black, Blue and Splash sometimes called Silver. Two quitter eggs had Black Cayugas, not sure why they quit unless there’s something in there about sex/temp? I’ll have to see if I keep these long enough to see if they’re male or female. (Parents pic is months old)
The Silver and Black combo is required to produce Blues (it’s Metzer’s strategy for getting only Blue Swedish most of the year).
I think Splash is mostly white with spots of varying size, Blue or Black and not-orange bills and feet. A lot of variation allowed. And like all Blacks, they lighten up with age so could eventually have pure white feathers although bill/feet stay the same. They are pretty, but don’t fit my color projects. The Blue genes are tricky, but imo make really attractive ducks and drakes. Anconas are not APA recognized, but I think their standard pattern is Splash, not as defined or perfected as Swedish or Magpie. Also why they can have a lot of variation in their patterns and colors, SplashxSplash leads to more Splash.
Breeding is just selection of traits, whether intentional or just backyard unintentional. So carry on with those traits that are important to you and work for your farm.