double crested duckling? Are they Pekins or Crested Whites?

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi!
I thought the pair of White Ducks from last years' Easter feed store d'lings' were Pekins.
I've been hatching their eggs and the ducklings are hatching crested and non-crested.
Then I was looking at a hatchery duck list and see Crested Whites (??)
Maybe my pair are non-crested Crested Whites?
Are Crested Whites just crested Pekins or something else altogether?

Then to make it even more interesting... Last hatch has a double-crested d'ling!

Anybody know the difference?
Thanks,

Lisa

 

[LinckHillPoultry]

well, I think yours are pekins. Crested ducks would produce all crested offspring.

I guess one of your pekins has a gene in it that can make a duckling once in awhile have a crest.

Very cute ducklings though!

 

[DuckLady]

Gawd, how cute especially the one zonked out in the upper left.

Crested whites can be any white duck with a crest.
here is what feathersite says about them.
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/Crest/BRKCrestedDucks.html

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

From what I have read and heard from breeders, the crest gene in ducks is like the frizzleing in chickens, when you breed 2 cresteds together you will have a lethal gene that will kill some in the shell, the rest of the ducklings will be crested and non crested. All ducklngs hatched from crested parents carry the gene for the crest, even f they are smooth headed, so that is probably what you have. Crested whites are basically crested pekins, the standard has them in the medium duck class, the crested blacks look like cayugas. Maybe check Ideals website also, they have lots of crested ducks and might have info there.

 

[Kev]

I would say ONE of your parent ducks is crested. Crested is also a gene with a variable appearence, which is why no two crests are quite the same in size and appearence. It also means there will be some that are genetically crested but just doesn't SHOW it.

Since you seem to be getting plenty of non-crested, it's a clue that one parent does not have the crest gene, so you should expect around half non-crested, with some of the crested ones either dying before hatch or a few showing without crests like one parent. Otherwise you should be getting mostly crested offspring if both were crested with much fewer non-crested and more eggs failing to hatch.

It's extremely common for almost any white duck to be called 'Pekin'. More than many times I have seen a white mallard be labeled and sold as Pekins. Pekin is a distinct breed with a distinct appearence. To me they have an odd shaped head plus they are very very big ducks with very loose skin all over their belly with very thick leg bones. Their wings often look way too small for them. If yours are much bigger ducks with a different looking faces, they could be crested pekins.. if they are more or less the size of domesticated mallards or smaller, they are just white ducks. with the crest gene.. Crest is extremely easy to introduce into anything or into a made up mix due to it's dominance.

 

[deeszoo]

I bought a crested Mallard colored duck at the feed store! It is funny looking because it has two crests, but both are very small. It will be interesting to see what it looks like as it gets older. It is good to know that it is a dominant gene, but since it is variably expressed, it sounds like it might take a while to breed out of your stock once you have it. Do I understand that right?

 

[Kev]

Not usually. I don't know how common non-expressing cresteds are, they apparently are on the uncommon side though. Should be relatively easy to breed out- simply don't breed any visible cresteds & the babies should be non-crested..... save for the occasional surprises like Dipsy's.

If you have a "surprise, somebody's a secret crested" babies & really want to find out which specific duck has it, just separate the breeders and breed them to other non-cresteds. The guilty one will make more cresteds with the new mate. Then you can proceed however you want- cull him or her from the flock or save him/her for breeding.

As a rule, dominants are far easier to remove from a flock than recessives. Recessives can lurk and pass around undetected for practically generations. Even with a dominant with extreme variable expression, there tends to be a telltale baby before long.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi and thanks for the explanations

I counted last night and of the 23 ducklings on the ground from the crestless pair(Zack and Zoe), 11 have some degree of a crest --- from a thumb-sized tuft to the double-crest.

These are the first 2 I hatched from the pair, Zena and Zeus (got lucky and the sexes matched the names).

At 'not quite 3 mo', they are as big as their parents.
Zeus has a huge poof of a crest now

So, if I wanted to continue to breed from what I have here, I should use the crestless grown drake with his crested daughters?

If Zack, the grown drake, is carrying the gene for crest --- will that cause the same problems as breeding 2 crested?

Same question about breeding Zeus with his non-crested mother?

Sorry for so many questions. I have folks coming to get ducklings this weekend and I have to decide who stays and who goes

I'd like to be able to keep all crested ducks but that doesn't sound like a good idea if I want to keep 'hatchable eggs'.
Thanks,

Lisa