I'm SOOOOO excited!
Last year, I finally took the plunge into Call ducks. I initially avoided them because I saw the loudness and the ability to fly as drawbacks, but I was at a swap last March and saw a lonely little White Call drake for sale for $5. He was dirty, quiet, his bill and legs were peeling, he was (badly) pinioned, and the seller didn't even know what breed he was! I had to "rescue" him! I named him "Sunday":
Well, once he got healthy he had quite the endearing attitude! I HAD to have more Calls! So, I bought a few Call ducklings locally and bought a few pairs from duckluck here on BYC. I had a flock of 12, but I recently got engaged and moved and had to downsize to just 4 Calls.
The hardest to let go of were my flock of Whites, but my fiancée promises me that when we move into out new house this fall, I can spend as much money as I want to start up a flock of Self-Blacks, Bibbeds, Anconas, and Magpies instead - because he likes the Black and Black & White ducks.
BUT, I currently have 14 Call eggs in the 'bator (I'm doing staggered hatches, putting 4 or 5 eggs in the 'bator every few days), and 3 in the hatcher! I've been monitoring the ones in the hatcher like a crazy woman because I've heard so many horror stories about how hard Calls are to artificially incubate, and how they have a tendency to fail to pip on their own, BUT lo and behold, I checked on the incubator a little while ago, and WE HAVE A PIP!
It's Day 26, so right on time for a bantam duck!
Here's one of the mommies, "Sprinkles", with the daddy, "Jet" (the ducks have been re-arranged since these pictures were taken - Jet, Sprinkles, and a Butterscotch hen are in one pen, and my original White drake, Sunday, is hanging out in a bachelor pen with my Mallard drake, Lullaby):
I originally had 2 of Sprinkles' hatch-mates - they were a very striking Blue Pied pattern (the same as a Fawn & White Indian Runner pattern, but with Blue and White), but their type was pretty bad - they were streamlined like a Mallard, with long, slender bills. So, I sold the two of them to a pet home and held onto little Sprinkles. I know from talking to Sprinkles' original breeder that some of her full siblings have also hatched out with Magpie and Ancona patterns, so I can't wait to see what she produces with Jet! Sprinkles is also carrying a recessive White gene (her mom was a White Call), so I'm toying with the idea of breeding her to Sunday later this summer (about half of their babies would be pure White), just for sentimental reasons so that I always have some of Sundays White offspring in the flock. He was an older guy already when I got him.
It looks like I only have another day or two to wait for the first babies though!
I'll update here as the babies hatch!
Last year, I finally took the plunge into Call ducks. I initially avoided them because I saw the loudness and the ability to fly as drawbacks, but I was at a swap last March and saw a lonely little White Call drake for sale for $5. He was dirty, quiet, his bill and legs were peeling, he was (badly) pinioned, and the seller didn't even know what breed he was! I had to "rescue" him! I named him "Sunday":
Well, once he got healthy he had quite the endearing attitude! I HAD to have more Calls! So, I bought a few Call ducklings locally and bought a few pairs from duckluck here on BYC. I had a flock of 12, but I recently got engaged and moved and had to downsize to just 4 Calls.
BUT, I currently have 14 Call eggs in the 'bator (I'm doing staggered hatches, putting 4 or 5 eggs in the 'bator every few days), and 3 in the hatcher! I've been monitoring the ones in the hatcher like a crazy woman because I've heard so many horror stories about how hard Calls are to artificially incubate, and how they have a tendency to fail to pip on their own, BUT lo and behold, I checked on the incubator a little while ago, and WE HAVE A PIP!
Here's one of the mommies, "Sprinkles", with the daddy, "Jet" (the ducks have been re-arranged since these pictures were taken - Jet, Sprinkles, and a Butterscotch hen are in one pen, and my original White drake, Sunday, is hanging out in a bachelor pen with my Mallard drake, Lullaby):
I originally had 2 of Sprinkles' hatch-mates - they were a very striking Blue Pied pattern (the same as a Fawn & White Indian Runner pattern, but with Blue and White), but their type was pretty bad - they were streamlined like a Mallard, with long, slender bills. So, I sold the two of them to a pet home and held onto little Sprinkles. I know from talking to Sprinkles' original breeder that some of her full siblings have also hatched out with Magpie and Ancona patterns, so I can't wait to see what she produces with Jet! Sprinkles is also carrying a recessive White gene (her mom was a White Call), so I'm toying with the idea of breeding her to Sunday later this summer (about half of their babies would be pure White), just for sentimental reasons so that I always have some of Sundays White offspring in the flock. He was an older guy already when I got him.
It looks like I only have another day or two to wait for the first babies though!
I'll update here as the babies hatch!
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