***This page is still under construction***

About

Back to Top

Colours

Back to Top

Crests

talk about the crest in here

Back to Top

Breeding

Back to Top

Gallery

Back to Top

Australian Poultry Standards for the Houdan

From Australian Poultry Standards - 1st Edition
To order a copy of the Standards, contact the VPFA

The general characteristics are similar to those of the male, allowing for natural sexual differences with the exception of the crest which is full compact and globular not in any way obstructing the sight except from behind and with the comb visible. Tail fairly full.

Male and Female: xxx x. Beak xxx. Eyes xxx. Comb face and wattles: xx. Ear-lobes: xxx. Legs and feet: xxx.

FOWL
Male 3.20 - 3.60 kg (7 - 8 lb)
Female 2.70 - 3.20 kg (6 - 7 lb)

BANTAM
Male 790 - 910 g (28 - 32 oz)
Female 740 - 850 g (24 - 28 oz)

SCALE OF POINTS:

Type	10
Size	20
Comb	8
Legs and feet	10
Colour	15
Crest	15
Muffling	12
Condition	10
Total	100

xxxxx.

Back to Top

History

The crest is actually a dominant mutation and typically you have around a million to one chance that any breed of Mallard duck will hatch with a crest.

They are fairly quiet birds, with the female only making a noise when she wants attention.

You can find ducks with crest in most colours and varieties, except Muscovy.

The crested breed of the domestic duck is known since the 17th century. There are those who claim that crested ducks first appeared in Britain, which is unlikely but they were certainly first shown there and appear in many early poultry books.

The crest is essentially a mutation associated with skull deformities and known for hundreds of years. The crest is formed from a mass of fatty tissue that emerges through a gap in the cranium (skull), from this, feathers grow. Crests vary from centrally placed, full crests, rather like powder puffs, to knobbly protuberances with just a few feathers; or the occasional earring when it has 'slipped'.

All crested seldom breed successfully but if they do, produce better stock. If using a crested female with a large crest watch as the drake uses this as to ' assist ' mating and she can get injured easily. The tuft of feathers on the head, which occasionally appears, having been recognized as a point of attraction, selected and bred for of the off spring many will be plain headed but carry the crested gene so a crested drake will turn any breed crested . . .they also have the energy for this so watch out!

The crest gene is an incompletely dominant one. i.e., if a chick receives a double dose of the gene - one from each parent (homozygous) it will die in the shell. If only one of the parents passes it on (heterozygous) the resulting hatches will be: - 25% will not hatch, 25% will not have crests and 50% will have crests. If a crested heterozygous bird is crossed with an un-crested one, the resulting hatch should be 50% crested and 50% plain.

So, as you can see, breeding Crested ducks is challenging and not recommended for beginners; also if the crest is so large as to interfere with normal eating and mating etc it would need to be 'trimmed' to allow the duck a normal life.

The Lethal Crested Gene
This gene is an incompletely dominant gene with a lethal variant.
If C=crested and p=plain non-crested, it works like this:
Crested Drake =C p (this means that a crested drake in a pen can turn any breed crested)
Crested Duck = C CC Cp
their offspring will be: -

pp:   is a non-crested duckling,

Cp:   is a crested duckling,

CC:   (theoretically crested) dies in the    
           shell due to skull deformities.

Appenzeller | Araucana | Crested Duck | Crested Geese | Crèvecoeur | Houdan | Polish | Silkie | Sultan

Home | Membership | Committee | Merchandise | Shows | Newsletters | Forum
Genetics | Links & Thanks | Constitution | Site Index | Members | Admin