First Time Duck Raising Questions

[Doc McCluckins]

Glad to see you thinking ahead, Doc! Your Calls are gorgeous!

Being typier Calls like you have, I would worry too much abou them laying til at least late Jan into Feb, maybe even Mar... some of mine will lay sporadically through winter, but fertility is hit or miss until temps warm up and daylight hours are longer... and my Snowy line that is typey doesn't start til Feb, at least...
Yes, they will co-sit and brood, if the females are bonded well enough... first time sitters may not finish sometimes, and some may not take to brooding, just letting you know... usually they are amazing sitters and brooders...
If the ducks are bonded to the drakes, then the drakes can stay in with them, but be prepared to remove them if necessary...
Ducklings can go to the water from day 1 with their mom, just make sure they have steps or ramp out of the tub... as long as they can get in and out easy, they should be ok... but monitor, especially first time brooders...

Honestly, though... the typier Calls lay much, much fewer eggs and go broody much less than other Calls... you might be better off looking into hatching and raising them yourself, or at least be prepared to... never know what might happen with broodys... but no worries, I can help you there... since you're in my area, I can give you all the pointers that I learned hatching here... and @WVduckchick is absolutely excellent in hatching help too!

Thank you! You are so helpful. I am hoping that I will have a few good layers in the bunch. I have a couple that are very small and have been warned the tiny ones may never lay. The man I purchased my last quad from is actually the district director in the SE of the Nat'l Call Breeders of America. He said he expected that they would lay but of course couldn't guarantee. He was very helpful. They drake I purchased from him was larger bodied than I like but very good type and head so I think I will pair him with my smallest females lacking in cobbiness and head shape and hope that they will make better babies than themselves. One can hope

My expectations are low for my first time mothers so the worst case scenario they will meet my expectations and I will have to prepare to incubate. If they will just lay fertile eggs I can learn though! I have hatched a handful of d'Uccle and Silkie eggs in my incubator since I got it and I need to get MUCH better before I start hatching my precious duck eggs. My hatch rate isn't even 50%

I have 6 - 3 pairs. Drakes are white, blue fawn and silver. Hens are grey, blue fawn and silver. They all run together now, and are inseparable.

A couple pics
View attachment 1202784 View attachment 1202785

Cute I love the chubby cheeks on the white.

 

[Bridger Davis]

They look awesome! Feel free to join my thread too if you want! https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...uck-buyers-unite.1209379/page-6#post-19264807

 

[Ravynscroft]

Thank you! You are so helpful. I am hoping that I will have a few good layers in the bunch. I have a couple that are very small and have been warned the tiny ones may never lay. The man I purchased my last quad from is actually the district director in the SE of the Nat'l Call Breeders of America. He said he expected that they would lay but of course couldn't guarantee. He was very helpful. They drake I purchased from him was larger bodied than I like but very good type and head so I think I will pair him with my smallest females lacking in cobbiness and head shape and hope that they will make better babies than themselves. One can hope

My expectations are low for my first time mothers so the worst case scenario they will meet my expectations and I will have to prepare to incubate. If they will just lay fertile eggs I can learn though! I have hatched a handful of d'Uccle and Silkie eggs in my incubator since I got it and I need to get MUCH better before I start hatching my precious duck eggs. My hatch rate isn't even 50%


Cute I love the chubby cheeks on the white.

I am happy to help!

Very true that there is never any guarantee! Glad that you understand that... pairing them up like that sounds like it should give you good results, but again, no guarantees, lol... I have gotten some super typey out of very larger, non-standard looking breeders, and have gotten bigger, way off type ones from some very typey ones!

You just never know, but once you find a good results pairing, run with it... are they all banded? If possible, you will want to track your parentage, especially as you intend to show...

What incubator do you have? You want a fairly decent one for Calls, and a good one will increase your hatch rates with other eggs too...

Also, I can pass some eggs to you once their laying season gets underway, if you want to try Call eggs that will probably be easier than your whites for your first try, if you like... much different that trying shipped Call eggs, I promise!

 

[Doc McCluckins]

Very true that there is never any guarantee! Glad that you understand that... pairing them up like that sounds like it should give you good results, but again, no guarantees, lol... I have gotten some super typey out of very larger, non-standard looking breeders, and have gotten bigger, way off type ones from some very typey ones!

I don't have any champions right the best I can tell. I only took a hen and drake to Knoxville this weekend and neither placed (which I expected) but there were many there. I like to enter mainly so I can compare my ducks side by side to the ones winning and to meet people of course. I learned this weekend that winners depend hugely on what different judges like. Some may like the smallest ducks regardless of type and vise versa. All of mine can be improved on in some way but I'm hoping with thoughtful pairing I can hatch some good ducklings. With the exception of my first call drake who I thought was a hen all of my others have came from breeders who show and I have gotten a lot of compliments on the type of my mystery duck at shows and he has placed at some smaller ones.

You just never know, but once you find a good results pairing, run with it... are they all banded? If possible, you will want to track your parentage, especially as you intend to show...

They are all banded and my new ones I got in Knox toe punched even. I need to have a plan for identifying ducklings when they come so I can track parents but I have not figured that out yet. I like numbered zip ties on my adults but wouldn't want to risk that with growing babies. What do you recommend there?

What incubator do you have? You want a fairly decent one for Calls, and a good one will increase your hatch rates with other eggs too...

I have the GQF Sportsman 1502. I am having the hardest time with humidity. And my turner acts a little wonky too. I am certain it is all operator related lol.

Also, I can pass some eggs to you once their laying season gets underway, if you want to try Call eggs that will probably be easier than your whites for your first try, if you like... much different that trying shipped Call eggs, I promise!

That would be wonderful. Once I get my bator figured out I could hatch some eggs for you even just to get some practice. My shipped eggs were very much a bust. Lesson learned there. Its MUCH better to buy adult birds at shows that are alive than pay for shipped eggs to stress over and get no babies. Not to mention you see what you get that way.

 

[Ravynscroft]

I don't have any champions right the best I can tell. I only took a hen and drake to Knoxville this weekend and neither placed (which I expected) but there were many there. I like to enter mainly so I can compare my ducks side by side to the ones winning and to meet people of course. I learned this weekend that winners depend hugely on what different judges like. Some may like the smallest ducks regardless of type and vise versa. All of mine can be improved on in some way but I'm hoping with thoughtful pairing I can hatch some good ducklings. With the exception of my first call drake who I thought was a hen all of my others have came from breeders who show and I have gotten a lot of compliments on the type of my mystery duck at shows and he has placed at some smaller ones.


They are all banded and my new ones I got in Knox toe punched even. I need to have a plan for identifying ducklings when they come so I can track parents but I have not figured that out yet. I like numbered zip ties on my adults but wouldn't want to risk that with growing babies. What do you recommend there?


I have the GQF Sportsman 1502. I am having the hardest time with humidity. And my turner acts a little wonky too. I am certain it is all operator related lol.


That would be wonderful. Once I get my bator figured out I could hatch some eggs for you even just to get some practice. My shipped eggs were very much a bust. Lesson learned there. Its MUCH better to buy adult birds at shows that are alive than pay for shipped eggs to stress over and get no babies. Not to mention you see what you get that way.

Hey, never say never! Showing is very fluid, and like you learned, dependent on judges preferences... myself, I have yet to enter a show, intended to this year, but things happened to prevent that, unfortunately... I mentioned tracking parentage though, because the only way you can replicate a good bird is to know exactly which parents created it... good for anyone serious about breeding forward and towards SOP...

Interesting, I hadn't heard of Call breeders toe-punching... I toe-punch my chicks, but for Calls I use the loom bands (the ones kids make bracelets out of) and then zip ties after a week or 2... you do have to keep an eye on them, but when they're that young it's easy... once they start feathering out, their legs don't get a lot bigger... I don't bother with the numbered ones though, those tend to get worn off, I get a package with 10 different colors and that gives tons of combos to use to color code them... or you can toe-punch, but that's not my cup of tea to do on ducks, lol...

My friend has a GQF Sportsman and she had the worst luck with Call eggs in it... besides, an auto-turner is a Call egg killer, just fyi... they need to be on their sides and hand turning them is optimal for best results... there's a couple of smaller, tabletop bators that would work better for Calls, I will look up the different ones for you...

Oh, good idea! Yeah, if you don't want to keep what you hatch, yes, you could just hatch them for me... just to give you the experience and build up your confidence!

 

[Doc McCluckins]

Hey, never say never! Showing is very fluid, and like you learned, dependent on judges preferences... myself, I have yet to enter a show, intended to this year, but things happened to prevent that, unfortunately... I mentioned tracking parentage though, because the only way you can replicate a good bird is to know exactly which parents created it... good for anyone serious about breeding forward and towards SOP...

Interesting, I hadn't heard of Call breeders toe-punching... I toe-punch my chicks, but for Calls I use the loom bands (the ones kids make bracelets out of) and then zip ties after a week or 2... you do have to keep an eye on them, but when they're that young it's easy... once they start feathering out, their legs don't get a lot bigger... I don't bother with the numbered ones though, those tend to get worn off, I get a package with 10 different colors and that gives tons of combos to use to color code them... or you can toe-punch, but that's not my cup of tea to do on ducks, lol...

My friend has a GQF Sportsman and she had the worst luck with Call eggs in it... besides, an auto-turner is a Call egg killer, just fyi... they need to be on their sides and hand turning them is optimal for best results... there's a couple of smaller, tabletop bators that would work better for Calls, I will look up the different ones for you...

Oh, good idea! Yeah, if you don't want to keep what you hatch, yes, you could just hatch them for me... just to give you the experience and build up your confidence!

That's why I am thinking breeding pens with trios will be best for tracking. I have found almost everyone selling calls will only sell them in pairs unless they have excess of one or the other, which is understandable I guess. I can see the benefit. I have been able to pick up a few hens in singles and then in Knoxville got the three with a drake. Some breeders I have talked to on FB do pairs to really track parentage but I am not anywhere close to that point yet lol.

I wasn't thrilled with their toes being punched mainly bc I was afraid they would be docked in the shows for it but he said that they didn't do that. I think the bands are a good idea. I'll try that. I did not even know zips ties came numbered until they put them on my birds when the vet came out to do my NPIP testing. I am interested to see how long the numbers last.

That's good to know about my incubator. (Well not good considering what it cost ) the turner can be turned off. I wonder if there could be any success with it if that were done. That could be a lot of my problem now with my chicken eggs.

If you have duckies to spare I can always use more lol. Assuming I don't outgrow my duckie habitats before then. Free ranging is a wonderful way to provide various creatures a delicious meal at my home so I keep everyone up. Except the occasional obnoxiously broody laying hen ruining table eggs and ornery roosters. Sometimes I'll boot them to free range status and tell them good luck. Some have better luck than others.

 

[MagpieDucks]

You have Silkies yes? They are going to give you your best hatch results. You can mist them with 100 degree F tap water once a day if you'd like, to mimic the mother taking a bath, but people have hatched fine without doing that. I would try them. Best of luck on your CUTE calls.