Crested ducks?

[AmeraucanaHank]

Hi,
I hatched 10 ducklings from hatching eggs I bought from someone on craigslist, and the breeds were black runners and Fawn & White runner. And 2 of the ones I hatched have crests! Is this possible?

 

[sourland]

Yes. Evidently some of the parent stock have crests or crested DNA. Not certain if crests are dominant or not, but someone will know.

 

[AmeraucanaHank]

@NatJ Do you know?

 

[NatJ]

Not certain if crests are dominant or not, but someone will know.

I had to go look it up, but I fiund that crest is dominant, and two copies of the gene is lethal.
So one crested parent is enough to produce crested ducklings.
And two crested parents produce some not-crested ducklings, some crested ducklings, and some that die before hatching (ratio of 1:2:1).

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crested_(duck_breed)
http://domestic-waterfowl.co.uk/crested.html
http://www.faithvalleywaterfowl.com/crested_call_genetics.html
(They all say the same thing, so I hope that means they're all correct.)