Bantam Duck Page

http://www.picturetrails.com/sfx/album/view/20940104



I have looked all over and can not find much on bantam ducks or call ducks on this site. So I will start one. I have Gray Calls and raise them off the ground so the preditors cant get them. They have a ten gallon tube with water flushed in every two hours with a ten minute timer. Hope to build a Duck Tractor this sping so the little ducks can be on the ground and have a tub that they can swim in and be on grass. What do you have or what would you like to have. Go to the picturetrail.com site and see how the tubs and pens look. Bob

Very cute ducks. I don't have any yet. Thinking about getting some.

Hi Robert!

Pretty Calls! There are quite a few people here with Calls, but not too many with the other bantam ducks. I am going to start posting more photos as this year's birds finish maturing. I have Calls in several colors, but the Calls are not really my primary focus at this point. I also have Australian Spotteds (all three colors), Mallards (Grey, Snowy, Blue Fawn, and Pastel), Miniature Overbergs, Miniature Appleyards/Silver Bantams, and a few others. I am currently working on developing a true Miniature Appleyard like they have in Europe and a Miniature Saxony.

I have had a few other bantam ducks over the years like the Black East Indies, which several BYC'ers have and I may add back this year after having sold mine several years ago. I know a few people here also have Silky Bantam ducks, which I am also considering adding this year. I would love to see pictures of everyone's birds!

Here are some of our bantam duck pens to start the pictures off....







I need to take some new pictures of them, but here are some of my Overbergs when I first got them last year...





Here are some of my newer Silver Bantams, right out of the box last year from Holderread's. I hatched a ton of ducklings from these birds this year...



Here is a couple group shots of some of the juvenile birds of various breeds up at the barn one night...





Finally, here is a Blue Fawn Mallard I hatched this year from an old Pastel drake and some unusually dark Mallard hens...

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City chicker,
I raise several ducks but mostly in the traditional colors. i have however some calls that i was wondering about. i have a grey pair and a pair that looks like a pastel drake and a blue fawn hen, but i'm not 100% sure. what would i produce from the pastel x blue fawn at the bare minimum assuming that neither birds are split to anything else. also i was wondering if you could post pics of both sexes of the following: grey, snowy, blue fawn, and pastel. thanks , Jared

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i was wondering if you ever ship hatching eggs from your ducks? i have been searching around for some of the harder to find bantam ducks and you just named a couple i was thinking of getting!

i was wondering if you had any preference between the appleyards and the Australian spotted? does one produce eggs better than the other? is one louder than the other or just the same as other duck breeds? personality wise-does one seem more people friendly-less skittish?

Hi Jared,

Sure, I can do that as I start to add more pictures. I don't have any pictures of some of those colors taken right now. The Silver bantams are the same genotype as Snowy, so the above picture shows that, but Snowy birds vary a lot in coloration. The others I will post as I have time to take more pictures.

As far as breeding Blue Fawn to Pastel, you will be get 50% Blue Fawn and 50% Pastel.

Chickie'sMoma- Both the Aussie Spots and the Mini Appleyards are very, very friendly. I would say the Appleyards slightly outweigh the Aussies in that department, but they both can be awesome pet ducks, far friendlier in general than most of the larger breeds. Some of ours are friendly to the point that if we are setting out in the yard or barn when they are out, they will literally come over and climb on our laps. As far as noise, both are also pretty quiet. I don't have any loud individuals in either breed. Our Australian Spotteds almost never even quack. Those are probably our top two favorite breeds.

After adding the Overbergs this year, they are right up there as well. They are extremely friendly and outgoing too and being a more recent hybrid, they lay more eggs than the Aussies and Appleyards. Our Aussies and Appleyards probably average about a hundred eggs per hen each year and the Overbergs laid probably around 150 per hen (but, fertility was lower, probably though due to our drake to duck ratio). As far as egg sales, I am not big on selling eggs. Some years we do and some years we don't. It just depends on the situation. We haven't decided yet about next year.

Boy those are some pretty pens. How do you hook up your plastic pipe or drain system. I would love to see some close ups of your water tubs and how you drain the dirty water. Some of the best pens I have seen. I had some of Holdereeds Gray Australian Spotteds. I loved them and was going to use the females to sit on my call eggs. They never went broddy and I went with Buff Brahma bantams to sit on my duck eggs.. Did like the ducks and having a all gray color was nice. I could not keep them so I gave them to a good home. Thanks for the pictures . bob

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Those are some sweeeeeet! breeding pens!

I raise call ducks. I"ll get some picture posted soon.