Duck "gene" question??

[Chickie Mamma]

Hello... I stink at genetics! Here is my question..
I have a Male Pekin with no crest, but has "crested" in his genes. One of his parents were crested. If he were to mate with my Cayuga, is there a possibility that I could get a Crested Cayuga?

He is almost 4 months old and he is making the 2 girls crazy.

I haven't checked the eggs for fertility as I think he is still too young. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

I bred true white cresteds(NOT crested pekins) for a few years and from my experience the crested gene is dominant(1 gene= crested bird), if a duckling had 2 crested genes it would die in the egg or have a very deformed head if it made it to hatching.
All the ducklings with 1 gene are crested and all those without are not.

So I am guessing since your drake does not display a crest he lacks the gene.

Since only 1 of his parents was crested only 25% of their offspring would have gotten the crested gene and be crested, the other 75% of the offspring of that pair would have not gotten any crested gene and be clean headed.

So no, you Drake can not produce crested ducklings.

I hope this makes sense,
Anna

 

[Kev]

Crested x non crested= 50% get the crested gene.. not 25%

Crested is also very variable in expression, while most run along the usual medium crest size, a few grow ridiculously large ones.. and a very few grow tiny ones or even look non-crested but have the crest gene.

It's the uncommon latter birds that can surprise you sometimes. Normally do expect all smooth headed offspring to not have the gene.. but don't be TOO surprised if a smooth head pair produces some crested offspring.

So.. expect no crested babies from your pekin, to be on the safe side, so to speak.

 

[Krys109uk]

I've never bred crested ducks; it's basically a deformed skull isn't it? My understanding of it is that Cr (incompletely dominant autosomal) is a lethal gene when homozygous. I gather, as Kev said, its expression is very variable & sometimes is not penetrant, so the gene does not always show. .

 

[Kev]

Yes I think it's basically a skull deformity. Kind of like Polish except on ducks the placement is way variable also- top of the head, on side of head, on back of head(some so far down it seems to be on neck) or on really large crested ones it can cover all locations seemingly..

 

[Krys109uk]

They look so funny when they have those great big crests but lop sided.

 

[Kev]

lol yes.. some of them have it so bad they look like they should be falling over on their sides or are simply clueless doofuses who don't know their toupees are falling off..

 

[Chickie Mamma]

Thanks so much guys..

Miss Sunshine (my avatar) and the non crested Pekin drake are getting along great. I wanted to hatch some of her eggs (maybe get another double crest) I know its a long shot, but I just LOVE that duck!

Thanks again for all the replys!!

 

[Kev]

Your Sunshine definitely will produce crested offspring! No question about it, irregardless what drake she's paired with.

It would be interesting to see what sort of crests her offspring has.. or whether her crested babies have overall larger crests than the typical cresteds.. or not.