call duck breeding

[phantom1]

hi we are new to breeding calls, we were wondering if anyone has a book or site that i can figure out the breeding colors of calls and how to get different colors, ie dalmation, nutmeg, etc. we talked to a few people who use to breed them and they couldn't tell us how to get these colors.

i looked on internet and tried to find a site that told about call duck breeding but i didn't find a site is there anyone who know or can help with the breeding colors. Or anyone who has these colors that will sell or have babies in the summer . thanks

 

[Pyxis]

I can help you with getting the colors you are looking for Of course, you must have the necessary genetics already available to you. What colors do you have now, and what colors are you wanting to breed for? Dalmation I have never heard of. Nutmeg is chocolate dilution on a grey base.

Oh, and what country are you in? If we're not in the same country, we aren't going to have the same names for the same colors. For example in the UK they call a color silver. We call that same color snowy here in the US, and to us silver is a totally different color.

 

[Pyxis]

View attachment 1622999 View attachment 1623000 View attachment 1623001 View attachment 1623002 Right, be prepared, because there’s a lot of information here...

Abacots are called snowy in the USA, and are silver (spotty) call ducks but with an extra added gene which overpowers the silver genes. This is called the abacot colouration gene (ACG).
The silver photo isn’t a proper silver, silver Calls are incredibly hard to get right. I’ve included a photo of the best silver in Europe, who is the mother to my silver breeding duck. This is what a proper silver looks like.

The silver you included has a half-gene of the abacot colouration, so appears to have a white underbelly as silvers should, but a fawn hood as abacots should have. This means if you breed off her, she will produce 50% abacot and 50% silver, providing the Drake also has a half-gene of ACG.

The Americans are currently importing top silvers into the USA, to get the correct standard, as their silvers heads have too much graining (around the eyes.)

The silver is classed as a ‘Silver’ type call duck and an abacot call duck is classed as a ‘Marked Silver’ call duck.

I’ve included a photo of my prize winning abacot Drake (Best in the country in 2017) and abacot duck. I’ve also included a photo of the silver duck who is the mum to mine, as comparison.

Hope this helps!

In Calls in the US, a snowy Call is a call that has two copies of the li^h harlequin gene but otherwise has the genetics of a regular gray Call. Spot is one copy of li^h, and then also one copy of li Light Phase. The two interact to form the lighter Spot color.

I'm thinking then that your Abacot is a double dose of harlequin. Or are you saying that it's a totally separate new gene just called ACG? If so, which locus is it at on the chromosome? Is it at the locus of the other color phase genes?

What is the genotype of your Abacot and the genotype of your Spot? If you can tell me that, then I'll know for sure which colors are the same Like this, this is the genotype of a gray Call drake; can you write this out for your Abacot and Spot?

M+M+ Li+Li+ e+e+ bl+bl+ C+C+ B+B+ r+r+ D+D+ Bu+Bu+

The picture of your drake looks to me just like a snowy here in the US, as does the hen. The picture on the magazine cover looks like what we call Spot here. So I'm thinking what we call Spot you call Silver, and what we call Snowy you call Abacot. Different names for the same colors.

It appears I just had the color names wrong, since everyone usually says that silver in the UK is snowy here in US, or at least that's what I've always read. It seems instead that it's actually Abacot that is analogous to Snowy.

Here's a genetics calculator that has all the colors on them, though the names might be different from what you call them since the creator of the calculator is Dutch. To me, Abacot like you're describing falls under snowy. Silver falls under Spot. Or perhaps 'silver spot' which is regular spot but also dusky.

http://kippenjungle.nl/kruisingEend.html

 

[Pyxis]

............... ....I just love my Calls...
I don't think I need to have show quality Call Ducks to be proud of my Birds...

Not at all! I keep some for show but I also keep some just as pets. They're awesome little ducks either way.

 

[Pyxis]

Thanks......I definitely love my Birds and my Calls are not show Birds although absolutely loved little Ducks just the same.......

You're welcome In some regards pet quality ones are better, you could say. Less trouble hatching for one, lol! And it's fun to keep a bunch of colors, too. That's what I do with my pet flock; keep a ton of colors. That's just not really feasible to do with exhibition Calls, really, since each color needs a separate pen and a lot of focus to keep everything correct.

So I've got my show birds, which all have to be separated by color and breeding stock selected carefully, and then the pet flock, in which I can keep whatever I feel like, including colors that aren't accepted yet, and don't have to select breeding stock rigorously. And it's always a surprise what I hatch, which is fun

 

[casportpony]

@Pyxis, @WVduckchick, @shawluvsbirds know a lot about breeding, colors, genetics, and I think they might know about a book too.

 

[Miss Lydia]

 

[learycow]

I breed calls in ancona, pied and magpie pattern (if that's what you mean by dalmation?)
Black, blue, silver, chocolate and lilacs

 

[Pyxis]

I think you mean silver is spotty? Abacot is snowy to Americans.
I’m English and breed both of those colours, Exhibition stock.

Thanks
James

I'd never heard of Abacot color in Calls until you posted, only on the breed Abacot Ranger, which actually do appear to be what we call snowy here. I tried to find pictures of Calls like that but couldn't find any, could you post a picture? We have a color called Spot here in the US, but it's not the same as snowy.

From what I understand, this is Silver in the UK:

http://www.sherborneducks.co.uk/Silver.htm

And that is what we call Snowy here in the US. Well, more or less, our females can tend to be a bit darker than the one in the picture looks, with maybe more markings. So they may be different.

These here are what we call Spot, and the females don't have the tan 'hood' on their heads, so they're different too:

http://www.sherborneducks.co.uk/USAColours-SpotStandard.htm

I did just find this, which has Abacot listed under "Marked Silver Varieties":

http://www.britishcallduckclub.org.uk/Gallery.html

I'd be very interested to see one if you can post a picture What is the difference between silver and abacot, genetics wise?

 

[shawluvsbirds]

In Calls in the US, a snowy Call is a call that has two copies of the li^h harlequin gene but otherwise has the genetics of a regular gray Call. Spot is one copy of li^h, and then also one copy of li Light Phase. The two interact to form the lighter Spot color.

I'm thinking then that your Abacot is a double dose of harlequin. Or are you saying that it's a totally separate new gene just called ACG? If so, which locus is it at on the chromosome? Is it at the locus of the other color phase genes?

What is the genotype of your Abacot and the genotype of your Spot? If you can tell me that, then I'll know for sure which colors are the same

The picture of your drake looks to me just like a snowy here in the US, as does the hen. The picture on the magazine cover looks like what we call Spot here. So I'm thinking what we call Spot you call Silver, and what we call Snowy you call Abacot. Different names for the same colors.

It appears I just had the color names wrong, since everyone usually says that silver in the UK is snowy here in US, or at least that's what I've always read. It seems instead that it's actually Abacot that is analogous to Snowy.

Here's a genetics calculator that has all the colors on them, though the names might be different from what you call them since the creator of the calculator is Dutch. To me, Abacot like you're describing falls under snowy. Silver falls under Spot. Or perhaps 'silver spot' which is regular spot but also dusky.

http://kippenjungle.nl/kruisingEend.html