Da' Cute and Cuddly Call Duck thread!

[buff goose guy]

It's been countinous over the years . You don't even want to know how many show up in migratory season it puts a real cramping on our food budget for the ducks where as a months worth of food for all the ducks and my 4 buff geese only lasts about 5 days and puts a real limit on all the population of our ducks , where as I would have had the call ducks a few years ago I haven't been able to etbthem till now because the geese take over the pond .

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

She flew away this morning , alone. Because all of the other mallards are still here as slept in the coop last night with rouens . She just didn't go in and I thought that she slept with the Muscovy who sleep free range


Thanks my buff geese are one of the best birds I've ever gotten. ( but if your referring to the Canada's that were in the picture those a wild geese tht won't leave I'm about to call fish and wildlife on them .

I was talking about the Canada geese. Lol I used to have one and I loved her. I miss her so much. I can't say I'd appreciate that many in my yard. Maybe 6 would be ok. That sounds messy.

 

[buff goose guy]

Ohh yeah it's bad on a 25 acr lot in a 3 acr pond it's not the best .

 

[fancyfeathers38]

cute!!!

 

[Amykins]

I actually have a question for fellow call duck owners - what are your bill sizes like? Considering her show quality breed stock, Wobbles sure has a big schnozz! Her mom is a gorgeous, diminuitive call with a teeny tiny bill. I wonder what genetic, epigenetic or even external factors go into final body size, leg length and bill size?

 

[Going Quackers]

I actually have a question for fellow call duck owners - what are your bill sizes like? Considering her show quality breed stock, Wobbles sure has a big schnozz! Her mom is a gorgeous, diminuitive call with a teeny tiny bill. I wonder what genetic, epigenetic or even external factors go into final body size, leg length and bill size?

Mine vary, there is breeding quality, show quality and pet quality... i do know many show quality birds are hard to breed that very small bill makes for a difficult time getting out the shell and for breeding itself..(drake wise)

some standards that you can read, one thing i do know and this is in general show quality parents and even breeder quality will not produce all offspring of the same level.. even in my own i have some young that are better than others... that is why it can take years to achieve good foundation stock.


http://www.callducks.net/standards&photos1.htm

 

[Amykins]

Thanks for the awesome link! Hmm...according to this she meets almost all of these standards, but her head is a little flattened out at the top (I'd assumed until now that her adult plumage would round out her head shape) and she really pushes the acceptable bill length. She may even exceed it. I don't wanna hold her down to measure it while she's still so young, but I fear my hopes of showing her are dashed at this point.

Doesn't matter to me in the end, I guess. She's still my bebbeh <3

 

[smonkeySK]

I actually have a question for fellow call duck owners - what are your bill sizes like? Considering her show quality breed stock, Wobbles sure has a big schnozz! Her mom is a gorgeous, diminuitive call with a teeny tiny bill. I wonder what genetic, epigenetic or even external factors go into final body size, leg length and bill size?

I've only bred the 2 so far and to be fair they are mallard/call crosses - but their beak size at hatch was tiny; they looked to be taking after their call duck dad.

However as they've grown, their beaks have quickly developed into a more mallard like size - so as babies they looked to be calls but now there's no doubt that they are manky mallards!

I think a lot of call duck genetics are recessive so seem to be easily superseded by dominant genes.
Luckily I don't care about showing my birds but for a short while I thought I'd be able to

 

[Amykins]

Well, she finally held still long enough for me to take a picture! What do you guys think? Is she show quality? We ended up measuring her bill, it is an inch and 1/4 on the nose (no pun intended).

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

One of my cute and cuddly call duck hens got killed by a hawk today Actually, I just noticed, it's the one in my avatar.