Black Crested duck falling over and arching back

[Pyxis]

Why do people breed these ducks if they are so prone to brain damage from acting like ducks? Why breed for a trait that lowers quality of life and survivability. This all seems cruel.

I'm putting this poor girl down and we're done with crested ducks.

We're going to put our energy towards our chickens and muscovies that want to live.

Thanks for your input.

Exactly what Miss Lydia said. I do not agree with breeding them at all for exactly the reasons you are experiencing, but people think they're cute and breeders like how they look and go ahead and breed them anyway. And then people buy them and have no idea what they're getting into.

 

[drakoduck]

We got the first ten of our ducks from a friend who had purchased too many (minimum shipping order). We luckily only have the one female crested, hopefully the two males we have won't experience the same problems. We are really keeping the birds for eggs, meat and insect control. I'm going to eat the poor girl. I don't mean to sound unfeeling, quite the opposite, I'm a little upset since we named these first few birds and I wasn't counting on going through the whole slaughtering process until we cull our dozen roosters.

I've just done a search of the major hatcheries that carry crested ducks and I can't find any mention of this defect. But when I do a specific search for crested ducks it's the first thing that pops up on google.

Anyways...we ultimately want resilient animals. We're trying to create a space where chickens can express their chicken'ness and our ducks and express their ducky'ness.

Genuinely, thank you.

 

[Miss Lydia]

We got the first ten of our ducks from a friend who had purchased too many (minimum shipping order). We luckily only have the one female crested, hopefully the two males we have won't experience the same problems. We are really keeping the birds for eggs, meat and insect control. I'm going to eat the poor girl. I don't mean to sound unfeeling, quite the opposite, I'm a little upset since we named these first few birds and I wasn't counting on going through the whole slaughtering process until we cull our dozen roosters.

I've just done a search of the major hatcheries that carry crested ducks and I can't find any mention of this defect. But when I do a specific search for crested ducks it's the first thing that pops up on google.

Anyways...we ultimately want resilient animals. We're trying to create a space where chickens can express their chicken'ness and our ducks and express their ducky'ness.

Genuinely, thank you.

I understand I wish you the best. Your 2 males if crested can pass this on to their off spring so you might want to consider this if you want to use them for breeding.

 

[Pyxis]

I understand I wish you the best. Your 2 males if crested can pass this on to their off spring so you might want to consider this if you want to use them for breeding.

Yes, half of all their offspring would be crested. If you want to avoid trouble like this in the future, don't use them to breed. Keep them separate from your females if you plan to hatch eggs.

 

[drakoduck]

We only have the two male crested ducks, three runners and 4 call ducks left. I don't think we're going to breed any of them...meaning, we're going to eat their eggs, fertile or not.

The muscovys and the chickens, we will hope for good brooding and mothering traits. I don't want to have to incubate anything.

We are planning to get a separate flock of bourbon red turkeys in the spring as they are supposed to have some survival traits. Definitely nothing broad breasted.

 

[Miss Lydia]

We only have the two male crested ducks, three runners and 4 call ducks left. I don't think we're going to breed any of them...meaning, we're going to eat their eggs, fertile or not.

The muscovys and the chickens, we will hope for good brooding and mothering traits. I don't want to have to incubate anything.

We are planning to get a separate flock of bourbon red turkeys in the spring as they are supposed to have some survival traits. Definitely nothing broad breasted.

I like hardy birds too. It's such a shame it is always too late before people find out about the crested gene. Muscovy's are awesome broody's, mothers and all round ducks.

Forgot to say Welcome to BYC @drakoduck