Mystery ducks?

[ThreeWillows]

Shipped to me as hatching eggs for Silver Appleyard calls, which is not what they are... So, what the heck are they? If I had to guess, I'd say maybe Australian Spotted? Cute little fellas, anyway.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Okay, not saying these are the parents, but I did find this pic on the breeder's facebook page this morning. View attachment 1057950
What do you think?

Those look like Calls... bills are not as short or wide as what is wanted, but they have the roundness, short legs, shorter and thicker necks and nice rounded crowns of the heads...

 

[ThreeWillows]

Chickens really, again, I can see the difference between the silver bantams and the calls, but what I am trying to determine at this point, and what Ravynscroft has helped me with so far, is where is the blue coming from? There are only two possibilities, as she suggested above: a mixed flock of calls, or another type of duck that carries blue, like Aussie spots.

Well, anyway, the suggestion that they are likely calls makes me feel a bit better. When I rehomed the others, I told the lady I thought they were calls. So, maybe that was the right thing to tell her after all.

 

[WVduckchick]

I've given up trying to understand Call colors and patterns. Too many differences from US to UK, name this color this, and that color that, but here its this, and there its that.

Best of luck to you breeders that understand it all!

My main reason for commenting was just to say they are all beautiful!!

 

[Ravynscroft]

By the way, for anyone reading this thread, as I understand it, the silver appleyard call duck (not to be confused with the silver appleyard bantam, which is what Chickens Really has) looks like this (Note that this is more similar to the color pattern of my duck. But, it has the correct call body):

View attachment 1056728

Derek Wheeler at Wheeler farms raises them, and he also raises Miniature Silver Appleyards, aka Silver Bantams), which look like this:

View attachment 1056732

He also has full size silver appleyard ducks, which have a similar color pattern to the call, but not the bantam.

What I had ordered were silver appleyard CALLS. Like Derek's. I had ordered some eggs from him, but they didn't hatch. As hatchlings, they should look like the large appleyards (to the best of my knowledge, light restricted mallard--yellow with a dark mohawk and tail patch--but I've never hatched any, apparently, and so I'm not sure about this. Would love some clarity). The birds on this thread do look similar to the ones I hatched, at least in color:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/silver-appleyard-versus-snowy.308832/

It doesn't help that people use the names so interchangeably, or that some people do not realize that there is both a bantam and a call. And, that the color pattern for each is different. To my knowledge, light restricted vs. harlequin dusky.

Sigh. The one thing I know for sure is that my "mystery duck" doesn't have the correct body conformation for a call duck, nor the correct coloring for a bantam. So, either way, unless someone who knows a lot about the genetics of both can tell me otherwise, I think she is not what she is supposed to be...

And looks like you helped me as well!!

I've given up trying to understand Call colors and patterns. Too many differences from US to UK, name this color this, and that color that, but here its this, and there its that.

Best of luck to you breeders that understand it all!

My main reason for commenting was just to say they are all beautiful!!

WV, remember this girl?

And see the first pic in ThreeWillows post I quoted? Looks like I might have created a Silver Appleyard Call, lol.

 

[ThreeWillows]

I am looking forward to her post. I have read several of her posts on related subjects in the past and found them very informative

 

[Ravynscroft]

And here's a pic I had DH take just a moment ago. View attachment 1057379 Blue? @Ravynscroft

Yep, absolutely... with extended 'rust'... hmmm....

 

[Ravynscroft]

Another closeup of my duck:

View attachment 1057445

Or it's a Call from mixed color flock...

 

[ThreeWillows]

Thanks, Ravynscroft and WVduckchick.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Thanks!

Very welcome...

And btw, those very well could be the parents... or part of the parents... blue gene in drakes dilutes the green head to steel grey or charcoal and also dilutes/washes out/fades the speculum (blue wingbar)...