Call Duckling Color Question (NOW WITH PICS)

[CityChicker]

Quote:
I disagree, I think you're an extremely lucky person, ducklover15!

Those are neat-looking ducks whatever they are, you were lucky enough to hatch a trio (after you sold the extra male) from e-bay eggs, and you must be having a blast seeing all the colors in their new ducklings!

Maybe I should try ordering some Snowy Call eggs on ebay and see what I get....

I totally agree! If I had hatched those birds out by surprise, I would be thrilled! Of course, I would understand if the OP was disappointed about not getting all Snowy as well if they specifically wanted that. That genetic series the OP is working with though is quite fun to work with.

 

[ducklover15]

I'm not at all disappointed! =] I raise them as my pets and I love them all to death. Having all these different colors in the pen is really entertaining.

I've just been terribly confused on what color they are and now I'm not totally sure on the breed! LOL


Okay, so from what you guys are saying they may not be calls at all? Or a mixture between a call and another small duck? These ducks are very small, but they are slightly bigger than the two call ducks I received from Duckluck this summer. I just thought because of the beak size they were really really pet quality calls. All three of them have cool looking spots that have gotten more prominent as they've molted.

Is the mom not a butter after all?

I'm just going to say dad is a duck and leave it at that. LOL He has way too much going on!

This is a pretty cool discovery!

I am planning on selling these ducklings since I can't keep them and in my ads I put pet quality and that I am very unsure of the colors. I may want to change that a little!

I'm going to try and get the people who buy them to send me pics when they feather out. I want to see what they turn out like!

Here's a picture of the girl I think is a snowy (she is the second mother of the ducklings):

I really think she looks like a snowy...but her looks can be deceiving!

I went back on eBay and found the person who sold me the eggs. I looked through all their hatching eggs ads and these are the breeds I found:
Snowy Call
White Call
Butterscotch Call
Pekin
Silver Appleyard
Cayuga
Rouen
Khaki Campbell
Buff Orpington
Fawn and White Runner

Now that's a ton of ducks! LOL

No spotted ducks...but I sent them an e-mail so maybe I'll get a response and they can tell if their calls are pure or not. There could be tons of breeds and colors in this bloodline!

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

Quote:
The reasons you are getting those sports are fairly easy to decipher. If you are getting occasional Apricot Silvers in your Butterscotch (which I have seen other people say as well about Butters), then some of your birds must carry dusky (m^d), even if just as a split, m+/m^d. The dusky of the Apricot Silver has to be coming from somewhere, but I suspect it is hard to see in some birds hence you may not have noticed it in your breeders. I suspect dusky (or lack of dusky more accurately) is also involved in your Snowy sports that look like Appleyards, but it may be an issue of light phase rather than harlequin phase as well. Again, it should be fairly easy to breed out if you know what you are looking for (ie. hens with eye stripes, drakes with extended clarets not laced in white, etc...).

Anyway, that is my input (not that you are asking for it and understanding that you may already know these things as well, LOL). I am reluctant to even give Call duck breeders any genetics input at all, but hopefully you will not take offense as I do think I know what I am talking about despite not being a big name Call breeder. A few Call breeders out there have left me "gun shy" for even saying the words "Call duck". LOL.

no offense taken..... everyone learns new things regardless if they think they know it all, which we don't, we just get lucky. My husband is more of the genetics guy than I am...... The bad thing is some of our best type ducks are the sports and we don't want a new color.

 

[CityChicker]

LOL, isn't that always how it happens, Mrs. Turbo? It always seems like that. That or the friendliest, calmest birds end up being the ones that are really off-color or type and don't fit in our breeding program. LOL. I would love to get more Apricot Silvers some day. I may have to check back with you when I have more funds and the weather is cooler (would love to get some of your Wyandottes at some point too).

Ducklover- Those colors the breeder has would make perfect sense. Your hen you thought was Butterscotch is probably a Snowy x Butterscotch mix. I would probably call her a pet quality, mixed Blue Butterscotch or Blue Aleutian (and just tell people the suspected mix, most probably won't care much, especially since she is so pretty). The hen above does look like a Snowy and the drake in question is probably a pet quality Silver Appleyard Call.

 

[bigbird53]

Did you read what he. Said the snowy laid some of the eggs which he got 3 snowy ducklings ,which look just. Like mine. Did. At ducklings. The darker ducklings are greys