Waterfowl - Raising Poultry - page 196

True crest
Dutch Hookbills are just as the name implies: they have a hook-shaped bill. A
unique genetic mutation, they come in several color varieties. They are small ducks that
adapt well to humans and are a unique sight in the backyard flock.
Crested ducks come in many colors but the most common is the White Crested,
which resembles a Pekin with a large, poufy crest on top. These are a must for an inter-
esting backyard flock. Modern breeders have crossbred ducks to create crests on many
colors and types of ducks, and now it's not unusual to see any color and type of duck
with a crest.
NO-FLY ZONE
Waterfowl do not fly far or high enough to have problems keeping them in a 4- to
5-foot-high (1.2-1.5 m) fence. Muscovies and Call ducks are the exception. Both
breeds are able to fly from pen to pen. If breed purity is important, take care to trim
their wing feathers.
When selecting crested ducks, make sure they have a true crest . These birds will have
a nice lump on the top of the head from which the feathers grow. Take care to make sure
you don't have a tuft — just a few feathers growing straight up from the top of the head.
Problems can occur when mating crested ducks together, as a lethal gene is involved.
When two very uniformly crested ducks are mated, about 25 percent of the ducklings
die in the shell.
When breeding, special consideration must be given to maintain properly sized, prop-
erly conformed crests. You want a crest that sits centrally on the top of the head and
does not droop or sag to one side or the other. Continued selection for super-sized crests
— choosing your ducks with the largest crest to breed in each generation — can lead to
ducklings born with severe neurological problems and death. This is a similar problem