Call ducks -- what am I ??

[kimberly35042]

so I ordered call duck eggs from NY in January and arrived in Alabama in a freak ice storm. And did i mention it was the first time I've ever even looked at an incubator--thank you neighbor! Anyhoo, I have 2 beautiful and very clever youngsters. one is a pied female, PIPER. She's very loud and thinks highly of herself and full of personality. I love her. The male is IDK, a snowy mallard, mini appleyard cross?? He's got a green thing going on on his head. He's quite lovely and follows Piper around like she's a little queen. i guess he needs a name too....but more importantly, is he a mix or something else? He's really pretty too. Both just love it when I bring new baby runners out. They want to investigate and peck them. I even saw the young male bird dominate the adult runner female--go figure.

 

[kimberly35042]

Here's a better pic of Piper...I'm sure she's a mutt too, but has the most personality of any of the birds. Please forgive the spinach in her mouth. She does love the greens...

 

[gryeyes]

They're both adorable! And you hatched them your first time? Wow! Call ducks are supposed to be hard to hatch. I hatched four my first attempt at ducks, and then I've tried twice more without luck. The fourth time, I hatched three! Yay! I don't know ANYTHING about call duck types, except the white ones are Snowy (I think) and the ones that look like little Mallards are "greys."

The three I have now (I sold the first four) are some sort of bibbed Calls. They're mostly black with white bibs with some black speckles around the edges of the bibs.

See how much I don't know?

Oh, and I know they fly and the girls are NOISY ducks! Love 'em anyway!

 

[kimberly35042]

yep, mine live on a 1 acre farm pond in my front yard and Piper caught air yesterday. I was pretty impressed. Knew she'd been practicing since she'd stand and flap like crazy. And yes, my very first attempt at hatching anything. Inexpensive bargain assortment from ebay to see if I could do it. Ebay is evil....I had no idea they were hard to hatch or a LG incubator shifts temps as the room changes, or how to candle an egg, or hatch time for a duck, etc. etc. Boy this website and the people are INCREDIBLE!!


Thanks guys!