Call Duck Growth Chart and Milestones Diary

RockwoodDucks

In the Brooder
May 20, 2022
16
15
29
We hatched a couple Call Ducks and am keeping a diary here for reference. The ducks are not sexed yet. We are raising them indoors by hand.
Georgie (hen?) - Hatched 05/05/2022
Jason (drake?) - Hatched 05/13/2022

Georgie is imprinted on me, we think Jason is imprinted on Georgie, but is still attached to me also.
Jason is a bit ahead of Georgie in weight and development by a few days relative to age, possibly due to "environment". Jason came from a slightly larger egg and has had Georgie as an older sibling to teach him stuff whereas Georgie was "alone" (other than me) for 8 days. Sex may be a factor also, we're not sure of the sexes yet.


Both ducks have a large brooder with a heat lamp when they are put up and not interacting with us humans.
Both ducks eat, drink and sleep on my chest for 4-6 hours per day and since day 18 get 30-45 min of swim time per day.

Feed:
01-12 days - Half and half DuMOR non-medicated Game Bird Starter and non-medicated Chick starter
22-Current -DuMOR non-medicated Chick Starter

Milestones (Georgie)
00 days - Hatched (24g), slightly less than 01oz
01 days - Eating wetted starter crumbles and drinking water. Started training to know my voice and "quack'.
06 days - Hatching weight doubled. First outside in yard experience. Follows me and comes when called (me quacking) if she gets lost.
08 days - Sibling (Jason) hatched
09 days - Hatching weight tripled
11 days - Hatching weight quadrupled, wing structure noticeably larger
14 days - Recognizes "danger, come here" quack
16 days - Small, fine feathers on tail noticed,
18 days - Weight of 0.5 lb reached, first swim in tub with 4" of water
20 days - Small, fine feathers on wings and chest noticed, wing structure noticeably larger again, possible "quack" sound made for first time
21 days - Underwater swimming in tub with 6" of water, 1-2 seconds
22 days - Larger feathers on tail, wings and chest noticed
23 days - Longer time swimming under water, up to 5 seconds
 

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We hatched a couple Call Ducks and am keeping a diary here for reference. The ducks are not sexed yet. We are raising them indoors by hand.
Georgie (hen?) - Hatched 05/05/2022
Jason (drake?) - Hatched 05/13/2022

Georgie is imprinted on me, we think Jason is imprinted on Georgie, but is still attached to me also.
Jason is a bit ahead of Georgie in weight and development by a few days relative to age, possibly due to "environment". Jason came from a slightly larger egg and has had Georgie as an older sibling to teach him stuff whereas Georgie was "alone" (other than me) for 8 days. Sex may be a factor also, we're not sure of the sexes yet.


Both ducks have a large brooder with a heat lamp when they are put up and not interacting with us humans.
Both ducks eat, drink and sleep on my chest for 4-6 hours per day and since day 18 get 30-45 of swim time.

Feed:
01-12 days - Half and half DuMOR non-medicated Game Bird Starter and non-medicated Chick starter
22-Current -DuMOR non-medicated Chick Starter

Milestones (Georgie)
00 days - Hatched (24g), slightly less than 01oz
01 days - Eating wetted starter crumbles and drinking water. Started training to know my voice and "quack'.
06 days - Hatching weight doubled. First outside in yard experience. Follows me and comes when called (me quacking) if she gets lost.
08 days - Sibling (Jason) hatched
09 days - Hatching weight tripled
11 days - Hatching weight quadrupled, wing structure noticeably larger
14 days - Recognizes "danger, come here" quack
16 days - Small, fine feathers on tail noticed,
18 days - Weight of 0.5 lb reached, first swim in tub with 4" of water
20 days - Small, fine feathers on wings and chest noticed, wing structure noticeably larger again, possible "quack" sound made for first time
21 days - Underwater swimming in tub with 6" of water, 1-2 seconds
22 days - Larger feathers on tail, wings and chest noticed
23 days - Longer time swimming under water, up to 5 seconds
Lovely! thank you for sharing. Mine just hatched last week and and where on average 22g. So quite similar. Strange thing is, most are around 29 grams now but one is already 38g 🤯
 
Lovely! thank you for sharing. Mine just hatched last week and and where on average 22g. So quite similar. Strange thing is, most are around 29 grams now but one is already 38g 🤯
Jason is like that, you can see it on the weight graph image. He hit 38g on his 3rd day, whereas Georgie hit 38g on day 5. Georgie and Jason have the same parents. I realize it's WAY too small of a sample size, but I wonder if it is possibly sex related.
 
Sweet babies and nice record keeping!
Thanks! I tried to find weight charts online and kept coming up empty so I decided to make my own and share in case anyone else was interested in it and the "milestones".


I cant wait until they are fully feathered, I want to try to teach them to fly to me on command. They already know my voice and 2 different "quacks" I use ("Everything's ok" and "DANGER come to me!") so I'll need to come up with another and hopefully then link it to an English command.
 
Jason is like that, you can see it on the weight graph image. He hit 38g on his 3rd day, whereas Georgie hit 38g on day 5. Georgie and Jason have the same parents. I realize it's WAY too small of a sample size, but I wonder if it is possibly sex related.
Then I have 8 girls and 2 boys in my last hatch 🧐. Let's see if this turns out to be true! Would be nice if the big ones are boys. Most likely they are just wel fed ;) I'll follow updates on this thread
 
Then I have 8 girls and 2 boys in my last hatch 🧐. Let's see if this turns out to be true! Would be nice if the big ones are boys. Most likely they are just wel fed ;) I'll follow updates on this thread
I'd love to get a hatch ratio like that! It's usually the other way around for us, and even if we order straight run ducklings from hatcheries.
 
Updated growth chart attached.
Georgie is apparently female based on the sounds she's making.
Georgie is almost fully feathered now, just some fluff on the back of the head. Primary Wing feathers are coming in but looks like she is also getting angel wing so we we will need to start treating that soon.
 

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Georgie's angel wing is taped and is slowly getting better. In other good news, Jason sounds like she's proto-quacking now too so I think both are hens like we hoped!
 

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