Unusual Ancona Duck?

[FenrisMau]

I swear our Ancona duck, Cricket... looks so much like a mallard/Ancona cross or something. The thing is, we got him out of the same batch as our other Anconas. Those are all regular black and white. At first we were also uncertain of gender, but he appears to be male now.

We've taken plenty of photos to get good looks at his markings. What's confused me is he's mostly brown with patterning that looks strikingly similar to a female mallard, despite most likely being male. Why is this? (He's almost 3 months old currently, don't see a drake feather yet but maybe slight upturn on the tail) He's got a green iridescent sheen to his head also.

Maybe this is totally normal, just seems way different than usual!

 

[HollowOfWisps]

What you are seeing is a dusky gene. Where did you get your ducklings from originally? If from a breeder, Craigslist, farm etc. it’s not uncommon for a batch of ducklings to all look alike and there be an odd one or two out in color especially if the parent stock were not 100% pure to begin with.

 

[FenrisMau]

What you are seeing is a dusky gene. Where did you get your ducklings from originally? If from a breeder, Craigslist, farm etc. it’s not uncommon for a batch of ducklings to all look alike and there be an odd one or two out in color especially if the parent stock were not 100% pure to begin with.

Wow, thanks for that info! Yes, I got it from a breeder in Idaho off of Ebay.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Agreed, recessive genes showing through. Original stock was probably not pure.

 

[Bolfreak]

Ancona isn’t really a specific breed, it’s a color variety developed from other duck colors. So there isn’t really ‘pure’ or ‘mixed’ unless it’s a hybrid with Muscovy which are sterile.
What you’re describing sounds like pencilling and can pop up in Anconas. He just got a very healthy dose of it
Here’s an older but detailed thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/question-on-duck-colors.702685/
The ideal (breed standard) for Anconas wants a larger area of white or completely broken up ‘spots’ so he probably shouldn’t be used to breed Anconas even though he is gorgeous. It probably wouldn’t matter since he came from batches of appropriately colored Anconas, but do you want to go thru several breeding cycles to find out how much color he throws.
Definitely update us if you have new pics of him or his babies

 

[deer trail duck farms]

they are derived from mallards. its a recessive gene it got. if looking for breed standard i would not let him breed someone else will def have a better explaination