Duck colour help please

[Charlock]

Thank you everyone for your replies!

I’m assuming they’re Calls if the last flock of Aztecs known was in Vermont, I am in Australia and have never heard of Aztecs before- they sure are beautiful!
Their parents had very similar colouring to the Aztecs posted but I think darker, especially around the bib area. From memory one was even kind of patchy (?) although I was definitely paying more attention to catching my little guys than the parents.
Either way and whatever colour they are, I’m sure they’re going to make great pets for my children and be a big help eating bugs in the garden, I had just never seen that colour before and was very curious.

Thank you for all your help!

 

[DuckyDonna]

Thank you everyone for your replies!

I’m assuming they’re Calls if the last flock of Aztecs known was in Vermont, I am in Australia and have never heard of Aztecs before- they sure are beautiful!
Their parents had very similar colouring to the Aztecs posted but I think darker, especially around the bib area. From memory one was even kind of patchy (?) although I was definitely paying more attention to catching my little guys than the parents.
Either way and whatever colour they are, I’m sure they’re going to make great pets for my children and be a big help eating bugs in the garden, I had just never seen that colour before and was very curious.

Thank you for all your help!

I know nothing about calls but most ducks will destroy your garden! I've got Indian runners and they can tear up a garden in no time at all! Yes, they will eat bugs but they will also rip out everything you've planted! I'd suggest fencing off anything you actually want to eat!

 

[Charlock]

thank you for your advice, I will definitely fence off my veggies, they will still have over an acre of lawn and other gardens they can rip apart til their hearts content

Would anyone be able to tell me (in duck newbie terms) how I would get the proper Call standard back without losing the colour? Would I swap out the drake? If so, what colour drake would still get me the beautiful pastel colour in the babies?

 

[Duck Buddies]

I hadn't realized Blue Fawn was where that started, I thought it was Pastel-Porcelain and Blue Fawn-Silver.
And that's awesome, I've been working on them as well. I love those little monsters. Have you dialed in the Blue Fawn yet? I chatted with Chris at Duck Creek a little about them. He told me that people have been using Australian Spotted Ducks along with Mallards to get the right type back. Seemed somewhat counter-productive as far as the color goes. Have you heard of anyone doing that?

 

[Charlock]

Just had a pic of the parents sent to me, they are the two on the right if that

helps clarify colour/breed

 

[WVduckchick]

I know nothing about calls but most ducks will destroy your garden! I've got Indian runners and they can tear up a garden in no time at all! Yes, they will eat bugs but they will also rip out everything you've planted! I'd suggest fencing off anything you actually want to eat!

Calls are not nearly as rough as bigger ducks. I’m surprised runners are so bad! Lol
I haven’t had mine near an actual garden though, so I’m not sure how they would behave. Mine like to noodle in the flower bed, but they haven’t destroyed it, whereas I am positive bigger ducks would.
On a side note, 2 of my hens made nests in the middle of those 2 ornamental grass bushes recently. It’s even hard to see where they tunneled their way in. But I found the eggs by looking straight down into it.
(Brown area is mulch)

 

[WVduckchick]

Just had a pic of the parents sent to me, they are the two on the right if that View attachment 2039853helps clarify colour/breed

To me, the far left one looks Snowy, and the one closest to it looks blue fawn. But let’s see what the others say.

 

[Isaac 0]

I know nothing about calls but most ducks will destroy your garden! I've got Indian runners and they can tear up a garden in no time at all! Yes, they will eat bugs but they will also rip out everything you've planted! I'd suggest fencing off anything you actually want to eat!

I let my calls in the garden and they do little to no damage, unlike standard-sized ducks, besides a little digging with there tiny bills and rooting around they don't do much.

 

[DuckyDonna]

I let my calls in the garden and they do little to no damage, unlike standard-sized ducks, besides a little digging with there tiny bills and rooting around they don't do much.

maybe it's just runners that are destructive little things because mine excel at it!

 

[Pyxis]

thank you for your advice, I will definitely fence off my veggies, they will still have over an acre of lawn and other gardens they can rip apart til their hearts content

Would anyone be able to tell me (in duck newbie terms) how I would get the proper Call standard back without losing the colour? Would I swap out the drake? If so, what colour drake would still get me the beautiful pastel colour in the babies?

You'd want to find a bird with good type to breed with either your hen or your drake. Then you'd select the best ducklings to keep breeding forward with. Pastel of course would work, as would blue fawn - with blue fawn, half the ducklings will hatch pastel, and half blue fawn.

I hadn't realized Blue Fawn was where that started, I thought it was Pastel-Porcelain and Blue Fawn-Silver.
And that's awesome, I've been working on them as well. I love those little monsters. Have you dialed in the Blue Fawn yet? I chatted with Chris at Duck Creek a little about them. He told me that people have been using Australian Spotted Ducks along with Mallards to get the right type back. Seemed somewhat counter-productive as far as the color goes. Have you heard of anyone doing that?

I've actually got a thread started about them if you wanted to join in over there Australian Spotted would be a bad choice because of color, but mallards are fine. First cross with a mallard to the existing Porcelain aka Pastel Aztecs will yield all ducklings that are Blue Fawn aka Blue Pearl. From there, breeding those back to Aztecs again yields 50% Porcelain and 50% Blue Pearl.