OLD DUTCH CRESTED MINIATURE DUCKS

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1 OLD DUTCH CRESTED MINIATURE DUCKS Above: A beautiful Crested Miniature Duck from Jacob Rodenburg. Text and photos: Jan Schaareman, With our thanks to Jacob Rodenburg for the historic information. I had been thinking about adding some ducks to our menagerie for some time; and in 2012 my wife and I decided the time was right. Because I have some Dutch Bearded Poland Bantams, as well as Gloster canaries (also with a "crest"), I very much wanted to have some crested ducks; but my wife thought them too large, and that s how we came to the Crested Miniature Ducks. On the Internet I read that at the Waterfowl Days of 2012, organised by the Watervogelbond België (Waterfowl Association Belgium ~ WAB), there would be a meeting of breeders of the Old Dutch Miniature Crested Ducks. It was in Lanaken that is not so very far from our home, so my wife and I decided to attend the meeting. In order to help revive the breed, the WAB have established a working group for the Old Dutch Miniature Crested Ducks. There are similar projects for other duck breeds, with an older / experienced breeder as the project leader. By the time we arrived the discussion on the Crested Miniature Ducks had just started. Following the discussion, I said that I was very much interested in breeding these ducks, and they willingly found me a few ducks to get me started. Above and Left: Discussion Crested Miniature Ducks at the Waterfowl Days.

2 I took three birds home with me; a drake with a small crest and two ducks; one blue-white (pied) with a very nice crest, and a black white-bibbed with a tiny crest. In taking part in the project you are given ducks to breed, and it is expected you will return a few of the offspring to the Waterfowl Association. There are not many breeders of the Old Dutch Crested Miniature Duck, and not all offspring will have a crest. The first ducklings we hatched were from the black bibbed duck. There were 9 ducklings; 6 without a crest, 2 with a small crest, and one with a very good crest. This last one, a blue-fawn, was also smaller in size. The 3 crested ducklings were ringed (with a leg band), and I also kept the 6 without crest. Right: The black white-bibbed duck with the tiny crest, with her ducklings. The other duck (the blue-pied one) had a clutch of 11 ducklings; four of them had no crest, and these I disposed of. The other 7 displayed more or less of a crest and I ringed these 7 as well. Their colours were very different, some black bibbed, some black-pied (more like the exchequer colour variety of the Leghorn). But the little blue-fawn duck with the nice crest was and still is my favourite. Above: The blue pied duck with the nice crest, with her ducklings.

3 In October 2013, once again the Waterfowl Days were organized, and I took almost all my Old Dutch Crested Miniature Ducks to Lanaken, as I don t want to keep too many ducks in my garden. Only the old blue-pied duck with the nice crest stayed at home. And, of course, my favourite duck, the blue-fawn, returned home with me. I only took her to Lanaken to learn about her qualities, and I learned that the white neck ring is not wanted in this colour variety. Right and below: Group leader Jacob Rodenburg discussing the Crested Miniature Ducks at the Waterfowl days of The duck he is holding in the photo to the right, is my blue-fawn duck. One of my ducks will be used in the project by Jacob Rodenburg. In return I got a very nice Brown bibbed drake. The other ducks were sold-off on the Waterfowl Days. Left: This bibbed drake is now mated to my blue-fawn duck. A bit of History The Old Dutch Crested Miniature Ducks were created by K. Rodenburg, the father of Jacob and Marjan Rodenburg from Kapel-Avezaath, who maintain the breed with help of a Working Group of dedicated breeders. Jacob s father started with a blue bibbed crested duck, the size of a mallard duck, which he obtained in 1965 from a decoy man. With this crested duck he wanted to try to breed small crested ducks, but that was not easy at all. It took 5 years before he succeeded in breeding a small crested drake. Only then he could really start his breeding program, and over the years great progress has been made. By 1985 it was time to set more stringent requirements: the crest should be small and better formed and also the colour and marking should be according the standard; and the pedigree of each bird should be known. So far there are very good Whites, and 10 other colour varieties: Blue-fawn, Apricot, Mallard, Brown mallard, Silver, Blue bibbed, Black bibbed, Brown bibbed, Mallard bibbed, Brown Mallard bibbed. There is also a Black with (almost) a white crest.

4 As yet, not all of the colours are equally beautiful; but the type is very uniform. There is still much difference in the crest feathering, which must be solid and fine, with the crest particularly well placed, without being too big and hinder the eyesight. Today most crested miniature ducks are lovely little ducks, which lay well, are reproductive and very tame. Left and below: Crested miniature ducks at Jacob Rodenburg s. Breed description According to the official Dutch Waterfowl Standard the name of the breed is: Kuif Dwergeend (Crested Miniature Duck) and is a dwarf form of the Crested Duck. It is a small, elegant duck with a rounded body, reasonably upright when active and fairly small in size. The head is long and straight, slightly rising to the crown, with a well balanced crest, firmly attached to the skull. The crest is to be an even, globular feather ball of closed soft feathers, positioned somewhat to the back of the skull and growing on a lump of flesh, the size of the crest to be well balanced and in proportion with the size of the bird. The weight of the male and female is 1 to 1.5 kg. Ring size is 12 mm.

5 Colour varieties: All colours described in the Dutch Waterfowl Standard. The colour of the crest doesn t have to match the body feather colour. There are no special demands on the eye colour. The colour of the bill and legs should conform to [compliment] the plumage colour. Right: An almost perfect Crested Miniature Duck at Jacob Rodenburg s. Below: My first drake, with one of the ducks and her ducklings. In conclusion (New) breeders of this ducks must keep in mind that a proportion of un-crested ducks will also be hatched. It is certainly not easy to breed show animals ; and you must have patience to breed this beautiful duck. For information about these ducks and their workgroup please contact Jacob Rodenburg, jacob.rodenburg@watervogelbond.be Copyright 2014 All rights reserved by the Aviculture-Europe Foundation. This is a publication by the online magazine English edition ISSN: You are not allowed to copy, distribute, send or publish these texts or photos without our prior permission in writing. With thanks to our sponsors