Hello everyone. I've been quiet for the past week because my grandfather passed away and even though I spent most of my time out with the chickens to keep busy, I wasn't really feeling up to reading the forums. But I just got caught up on all the posts, or at least most of them. First, welcome to all the newcomers!
Luv - Beer can is right, avoid breeding crested to crested because a double crested gene is lethal, either in the egg or right out of it. They also tend to have neurological problems more frequently compared to non crested ducks. Since yours is a female, watch out when the drakes start breeding her again. They will sometimes use the crest to hold on, like a rooster does grabbing a hen's neck feathers, and since the crest is actually caused by a gap in the skull, this can lead to serious injury and brain damage if the drake gets too rough.
Things are going well here. The legbar flock chicks are growing like little weeds. Also, the cemanis are starting to lay. I won't be selling the eggs from them until I get a Greenfire Farms line rooster in January to put over them, but the hens sure are gorgeous. I just acquired two hens from Tonie Marie lines and they are beautiful birds. Best part is that they were covered by a Greenfire rooster right up until they were shipped to me so any eggs they lay get popped into the incubator until they're no longer fertile. It also turns out that the naked neck 'pullet' in that coop is actually a cockerel. So far I've seen him try some mating attempts to no avail, but who knows, maybe he'll get lucky. Then I'll have some very beautiful naked necks for my layer flock. But the new hens gave him quite a beat down when they arrived so mostly he's afraid of them, poor guy. Of course once the Greenfire rooster arrives he'll get booted from that coop.
I also ended up with seven two year old buff orp hens that a local woman didn't want to overwinter this year. She didn't want dual purpose birds any longer so the deal was that I'll stick some just egg layers on my spring chick order for her. She wants smaller birds that eat less and lay a ton so I'm thinking I'll do leghorns, production blacks, sex links and things of that nature for her. My rooster Drone will be moving out of the main coop and into the coop with these ladies once the quarantine period is over. Eggs will be purebred so if anyone wants utility quality buff orps let me know
