Hatch Done, What a DISASTER... 2 ducklings, all others lost or culled.

[speckledhen]

Im sorry your hatch didn't go well. I have never incubated ducks, but I do know that even veteran hatchers do not always have a good one.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

I'm reading some things online right now about this. It's just really getting to me that this played out so horribly...

Here are two blips on crested genes:

The domestic Crested Duck is a duck breed descended from the Mallard. It has its appearance because it is heterozygous for a genetic mutation causing a deformity of the skull. As a result, when a pair of crested ducks breed, the young sort out in the usual 1-2-1 ratio:-

25% are homozygous for the normal allele of this gene and so have no crest and if bred together their offspring will never have a crest.
50% are heterozygous for this gene and hatch with a crest of varying sizes.
25% are homozygous for the crested allele of this gene and die from exposed brain without hatching, as it is lethal in homozygous form.
If a crested duck and a non-crested duck breed together, the resulting ducklings would be expected to be 50% crested and 50% non-crested.

That is from Wikipedia...



And:

The domesticated Crested Duck breed is a type of domestic duck breed of rather large size and weight with beautiful plumage.

The Crested duck breed is distantly related to other ducks and is directly descended from the Mallard duck breed.

Crested Ducks have naturally-deformed skulls that give it a physical "crest" on the top of its head. Crests should be large and sit symmetrically on the duck's head.

The crest on Crested Ducks arose from a genetic mutation specifically bred into the bird by duck breeders.

****Interestingly enough, a quarter of all Crested Ducks die when they hatch because the crest is not properly formed and leaves the duckling's brain fatally exposed.****

Another quarter of all Crested ducklings are born without a crest.

Only half of all Crested ducklings hatched from eggs procured by breeding two Crested ducks will have the crested genes passed down to them.

From duckhobby.com

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Sooo, it looks to me that the ducks that had to be culled due to brain exposure were just regular crested ducks....

And here I thought all along that being crested was just a extra plume of feathers on the head. I had no idea that it was actually the skull formed that way!

So I think if I remove my crested hens this shouldn't be an issue. I'll sperate them this spring and we'll see what happens.

 

[daisychick]

yeah it sounds like crested ducks are risky to breed at all.....so I bet if you take out the crested girls you may get some healthy ducklings. That is very interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing it with us....good and bad.

 

[twigg]

Quote:
It sounds like you might have eggs from breeding stock with congenital deformities.

It might be worth setting a few hens eggs from known good stock to help check your incubator and technique before trying ducks again.

Sorry you had this happen, no fun at all

 

[ro.netcmarie]

i am so sorry for your loss. i hope the 2 duckies you got out of this hatch will fill your days and life with joy and happiness, because you do deserve it after that. please post pics. we love duckies!!!!!

 

[AngieChick]

Wow, thank you so much for posting this.

 

[BirdBoy88]

Jenna i am so sorry your hatch didn't go well

but i am so glad you got atleast 2 ducklings from the bunch

and there big sister is sitting here yelling to her brothers and or sisters that she is happy they made it ok

Abby says Hi to you and her little brothers or sisters