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Articles Page 2
| Raising Calls in the South by Steve Jones |
For anyone who has fallen in love with our beloved call ducks and tried to raise them, most will find there
they do have their own unique challenges. I live in the eastern part of Texas and have my own challenges
and benefits of raising call ducks and other waterfowl. The eastern portion of Texas has very high
springtime humidity with long hot summers. The trade off is that there are relatively mild, short winters to
endure.
The last shows that I attend are in early December. After that, I start switching gears and putting the
waterfowl on breeder rations. For the call ducks, I use four part layer pellets, 1 part rabbit pellets (alfalfa-
based) 1 part supplement pellets and two parts whole oats. Supplement pellets used are something like
Calf Manna® or Purina Animax®. I use a brand produced locally that is a fraction of the price. As a top
dressing, I give breeder ration to which either Red Cell® or wheat germ oil has been added on
alternating days. Greens and grass clippings are given liberally. I plant rye grass in the fall, which stays
green the entire winter here. I also give free choice oyster shell and grit.
It is not long after the breeder rations begin that the first warm days in January will perk the interest of the
drakes and some of the hens will start to lay. The best fertility in my area for call ducks starts around St.
Patrick’s Day. I collect the eggs every day and set the eggs weekly. Ideally, after collection the eggs will
require little or no cleaning. Badly soiled eggs or misshaped eggs are discarded. Before storage, I give
all the clean eggs a light spritz of disinfectant solution. I store the eggs in a cool place, with the smaller
end down, and rotate the eggs at a 45-degree angle twice a day. I am meticulous about the cleanliness
of waterfowl eggs. I have separate incubators for waterfowl and the other poultry eggs. I candle waterfowl
eggs several times a week to look for any signs of eggs that have gone bad or infertile eggs just to
eliminate possible bacteria sources. Every time I handle the waterfowl eggs, I give them a light spritzing
of a disinfectant solution with a small spritz bottle I keep inside in the incubator. I use a separate hatcher
for hatching and the inside of the hatcher and the trays are disinfected after every hatch.
The first waterfowl that I started trying to incubate were call ducks and geese and both certainly have
some unique challenges. I started incubating by conventional methods for waterfowl and had poor and
sometimes very disappointed results. The advice that I was getting with waterfowl that if you have
difficulty with waterfowl you need to add more humidity. I tried all the suggestions and still came up with a
great deal of frustrations. It is very heartbreaking to watch eggs develop to the point of pipping only to
have them die in the shell. I sought out answers again and still the advice was to add more humidity.
It was not until I visited a fellow in eastern Oklahoma that raises peafowl that I was able to ‘see the light’
and start looking more closely at my methods of incubation and hatching. Through a combination of
scientific theory and just plain common sense, he was able to show me what I was going wrong. He
went into detail of how the embryos formed during the various stages of incubation and why it was
important for the developing eggs to lose a certain amount of moisture during the process. If the
moisture is not lost during incubation, the ducklings and goslings are not able to turn in the shell once
they have started to pip. If they have lost too much moisture then they will be small and weak and unable
to turn once the have started. He stressed to me the importance of knowing my local conditions and the
conditions of where in the incubators were placed with any eggs, waterfowl or otherwise.
Before I left that day, he gave me another piece of advice that stuck with me. He knew that I had
muscovies and asked if I had them. He told me to start watching them more and they could tell me what I
needed to know. He said that when there are extremely humid conditions a muscovy hen would not
spend a lot of time bathing before she goes back to a nest. If there are drier conditions, she will always
bathe before going back to the nest. If you watch the behavior of the hens in the heat of summer, they will
even do something that will really surprise you. When the temperatures here start to go over the 100-
degree mark on summer days, the muscovy hens will literally stand over a clutch of eggs and fan the
eggs with their wings to keep them cool.
That spring I started looking more closely at the conventional methods for incubation that I had been
using. I use GQF Sportsman incubators and hatchers. I had problems keeping the humidity down during
the spring so I started taking the water out of the incubators, even the waterfowl incubator. I started
watching the development of the air cell more closely during the various stages of incubation. I do use
automatic turners for all eggs. I place call duck, muscovy and goose eggs on their side for incubation
because they seem to work better that way. After there is movement in the air cell of the ducklings or
goslings, I move them to the hatcher where a little more moisture is added if needed. I started having
much better hatches with the waterfowl eggs after I started watching the air cells rather than the
hydrometer. I should add that later in the season, the humidity changes in my area and I do have to add
more moisture to the incubators.
I have not taken a wet bulb or hydrometer reading in probably four years now. My incubators have
electronic thermostats and remain very steady throughout the hatching season. People are sometimes
amazed that I dry incubate waterfowl eggs with a great deal of success and I am not constantly watching
the hydrometer and thermometers. With tongue in cheek, I tell them that my method is called the “May the
Force Be With You” method of incubation. I rely on the way that the egg cell is developing and the way the
young ones are hatching to determine if the humidity is right. I very rarely have to ‘peel’ a gosling or
duckling out of the shell. Of course, the short bills and short legs of some of the call ducklings require
that you do watch them a little more closely to make sure they don’t get into trouble during hatching.
After the ducklings and goslings hatch, I start them on a 20% starter crumble for the first couple of weeks.
After that, all the waterfowl are switched to a starter that is about 16%. One unique problem that I do have
to watch, especially during the heat of summer, is the niacin content in the feed. I pick up my feed weekly
but if feed is stored in a hot warehouse somewhere along the line some of the vitamins and
supplements disappear quickly with the hot temperatures. To help with the problem of loss of niacin and
other vitamins I try to get the young ones started on liberal amounts of grass clippings and other greens
as soon as possible. With the combination of good nutrition, plenty of greens and exercise I have rarely
have trouble with wings like slipped wings or angel wings in any of my waterfowl.
On the benefits of living in the South is that the time required by the ducklings in a brooder is relatively
short. It is not unusual for me to have ducklings hatched in February out of the brooders and out on their
own by early March. Later in the season they may only have to spend three weeks in a brooder before the
nighttime temperatures are warm enough for them to go outside on their own.
Besides the call ducks, I have 12 varieties of large ducks, 5 varieties of geese, 13 varieties of chickens
and 2 varieties of turkeys. During the height of waterfowl hatching season, the space in the incubators is
a big concern. In the past, I have used muscovies and chickens to hatch excess large duck eggs with
great success. A friend of mine hatches calls under silkies with great success. Last year I tried to hatch
excess calls under bantam wyandottes and brahmas. The brahma hens worked reasonably well but the
wyandottes were a disaster. As soon as the ducklings would hatch, the hens would kill them before I
could remove them. This year I am going to try a different experiment with extra call eggs. From some
local Old English Game fanciers I obtain what they believe are the perfect setters. They have crossed
bantam cochins with bantam Old English games. Judging by the number of little unexpected surprises
they have already presented me with in the middle of winter, I think they will do very well.
I have had both grey and white calls for a while. Most of my stock, both grey and white, can be traced back
to Evy Avery, Art Lundgren and Donald Krahe. This past fall I added snowy calls from Kim Theodore,
Milton Schatz and Evy Avery. I was also fortunate enough to be able to go to Columbus, Ohio in
November. I picked up new gray and white stock from Daphne Mays and Evy Avery that is very exciting. I
have always admired the soft colors of the pastel calls and this fall I added those with stock from Art
Lundgren and Milton Schatz. This hatching season promises to present new and exciting challenges in
East Texas.
they do have their own unique challenges. I live in the eastern part of Texas and have my own challenges
and benefits of raising call ducks and other waterfowl. The eastern portion of Texas has very high
springtime humidity with long hot summers. The trade off is that there are relatively mild, short winters to
endure.
The last shows that I attend are in early December. After that, I start switching gears and putting the
waterfowl on breeder rations. For the call ducks, I use four part layer pellets, 1 part rabbit pellets (alfalfa-
based) 1 part supplement pellets and two parts whole oats. Supplement pellets used are something like
Calf Manna® or Purina Animax®. I use a brand produced locally that is a fraction of the price. As a top
dressing, I give breeder ration to which either Red Cell® or wheat germ oil has been added on
alternating days. Greens and grass clippings are given liberally. I plant rye grass in the fall, which stays
green the entire winter here. I also give free choice oyster shell and grit.
It is not long after the breeder rations begin that the first warm days in January will perk the interest of the
drakes and some of the hens will start to lay. The best fertility in my area for call ducks starts around St.
Patrick’s Day. I collect the eggs every day and set the eggs weekly. Ideally, after collection the eggs will
require little or no cleaning. Badly soiled eggs or misshaped eggs are discarded. Before storage, I give
all the clean eggs a light spritz of disinfectant solution. I store the eggs in a cool place, with the smaller
end down, and rotate the eggs at a 45-degree angle twice a day. I am meticulous about the cleanliness
of waterfowl eggs. I have separate incubators for waterfowl and the other poultry eggs. I candle waterfowl
eggs several times a week to look for any signs of eggs that have gone bad or infertile eggs just to
eliminate possible bacteria sources. Every time I handle the waterfowl eggs, I give them a light spritzing
of a disinfectant solution with a small spritz bottle I keep inside in the incubator. I use a separate hatcher
for hatching and the inside of the hatcher and the trays are disinfected after every hatch.
The first waterfowl that I started trying to incubate were call ducks and geese and both certainly have
some unique challenges. I started incubating by conventional methods for waterfowl and had poor and
sometimes very disappointed results. The advice that I was getting with waterfowl that if you have
difficulty with waterfowl you need to add more humidity. I tried all the suggestions and still came up with a
great deal of frustrations. It is very heartbreaking to watch eggs develop to the point of pipping only to
have them die in the shell. I sought out answers again and still the advice was to add more humidity.
It was not until I visited a fellow in eastern Oklahoma that raises peafowl that I was able to ‘see the light’
and start looking more closely at my methods of incubation and hatching. Through a combination of
scientific theory and just plain common sense, he was able to show me what I was going wrong. He
went into detail of how the embryos formed during the various stages of incubation and why it was
important for the developing eggs to lose a certain amount of moisture during the process. If the
moisture is not lost during incubation, the ducklings and goslings are not able to turn in the shell once
they have started to pip. If they have lost too much moisture then they will be small and weak and unable
to turn once the have started. He stressed to me the importance of knowing my local conditions and the
conditions of where in the incubators were placed with any eggs, waterfowl or otherwise.
Before I left that day, he gave me another piece of advice that stuck with me. He knew that I had
muscovies and asked if I had them. He told me to start watching them more and they could tell me what I
needed to know. He said that when there are extremely humid conditions a muscovy hen would not
spend a lot of time bathing before she goes back to a nest. If there are drier conditions, she will always
bathe before going back to the nest. If you watch the behavior of the hens in the heat of summer, they will
even do something that will really surprise you. When the temperatures here start to go over the 100-
degree mark on summer days, the muscovy hens will literally stand over a clutch of eggs and fan the
eggs with their wings to keep them cool.
That spring I started looking more closely at the conventional methods for incubation that I had been
using. I use GQF Sportsman incubators and hatchers. I had problems keeping the humidity down during
the spring so I started taking the water out of the incubators, even the waterfowl incubator. I started
watching the development of the air cell more closely during the various stages of incubation. I do use
automatic turners for all eggs. I place call duck, muscovy and goose eggs on their side for incubation
because they seem to work better that way. After there is movement in the air cell of the ducklings or
goslings, I move them to the hatcher where a little more moisture is added if needed. I started having
much better hatches with the waterfowl eggs after I started watching the air cells rather than the
hydrometer. I should add that later in the season, the humidity changes in my area and I do have to add
more moisture to the incubators.
I have not taken a wet bulb or hydrometer reading in probably four years now. My incubators have
electronic thermostats and remain very steady throughout the hatching season. People are sometimes
amazed that I dry incubate waterfowl eggs with a great deal of success and I am not constantly watching
the hydrometer and thermometers. With tongue in cheek, I tell them that my method is called the “May the
Force Be With You” method of incubation. I rely on the way that the egg cell is developing and the way the
young ones are hatching to determine if the humidity is right. I very rarely have to ‘peel’ a gosling or
duckling out of the shell. Of course, the short bills and short legs of some of the call ducklings require
that you do watch them a little more closely to make sure they don’t get into trouble during hatching.
After the ducklings and goslings hatch, I start them on a 20% starter crumble for the first couple of weeks.
After that, all the waterfowl are switched to a starter that is about 16%. One unique problem that I do have
to watch, especially during the heat of summer, is the niacin content in the feed. I pick up my feed weekly
but if feed is stored in a hot warehouse somewhere along the line some of the vitamins and
supplements disappear quickly with the hot temperatures. To help with the problem of loss of niacin and
other vitamins I try to get the young ones started on liberal amounts of grass clippings and other greens
as soon as possible. With the combination of good nutrition, plenty of greens and exercise I have rarely
have trouble with wings like slipped wings or angel wings in any of my waterfowl.
On the benefits of living in the South is that the time required by the ducklings in a brooder is relatively
short. It is not unusual for me to have ducklings hatched in February out of the brooders and out on their
own by early March. Later in the season they may only have to spend three weeks in a brooder before the
nighttime temperatures are warm enough for them to go outside on their own.
Besides the call ducks, I have 12 varieties of large ducks, 5 varieties of geese, 13 varieties of chickens
and 2 varieties of turkeys. During the height of waterfowl hatching season, the space in the incubators is
a big concern. In the past, I have used muscovies and chickens to hatch excess large duck eggs with
great success. A friend of mine hatches calls under silkies with great success. Last year I tried to hatch
excess calls under bantam wyandottes and brahmas. The brahma hens worked reasonably well but the
wyandottes were a disaster. As soon as the ducklings would hatch, the hens would kill them before I
could remove them. This year I am going to try a different experiment with extra call eggs. From some
local Old English Game fanciers I obtain what they believe are the perfect setters. They have crossed
bantam cochins with bantam Old English games. Judging by the number of little unexpected surprises
they have already presented me with in the middle of winter, I think they will do very well.
I have had both grey and white calls for a while. Most of my stock, both grey and white, can be traced back
to Evy Avery, Art Lundgren and Donald Krahe. This past fall I added snowy calls from Kim Theodore,
Milton Schatz and Evy Avery. I was also fortunate enough to be able to go to Columbus, Ohio in
November. I picked up new gray and white stock from Daphne Mays and Evy Avery that is very exciting. I
have always admired the soft colors of the pastel calls and this fall I added those with stock from Art
Lundgren and Milton Schatz. This hatching season promises to present new and exciting challenges in
East Texas.
| Raising Calls for the Jr Breeder by Evy Avery |
The smallest of the domestic waterfowl, the Call duck was so named because of her especially loud
quack or “call” and was developed, it’s believed, in Holland in the early 1800s. Their loud voice & small
size made them perfect little decoys for hunters. Carried in a pocket or basket, they were tied in the
marshes & used to entice migrating birds down. This practice ended many years ago, but the toy-like
little ducks continued to grow in popularity among collectors. They are now one of the top 5 breeds
shown in this country.
Calls are hardy little waterfowl & easy to keep but are not the easiest to propagate. The desired type has
evolved over the years from the racy, long bodied, long billed look of a Mallard to the short, round bodied,
short billed bird found in the showroom today. These traits have made breeding & hatching somewhat
more difficult than in other breeds like East Indies. With good stock & patience though, the rewards are
worth the effort.
When choosing breeding stock, be aware that the tiny bird you see on Champion row, while adorable,
often is useless for breeding. The tiny ducks may not lay & the smaller drakes often don’t breed or are
sterile. Choose your breeders from birds that have the correct type & good proportion but are a little
bigger. Thankfully, many judges today are taking these facts into consideration. They realize we may be
breeding the desired type Call out of existence by demanding smaller & smaller birds.
When choosing the duck you want to show or breed from, the word to keep in mind is “round”. The head
should be round with a definite crown or rise from the bill to the top of the head. The eye should be set in
the center, rather than towards the top of its head. The bill is short & broad, the neck is short & the head
carried back, not forward of the breast. The body is short & carried level on very short legs. The overall
appearance is that of a chubby, little toy.
There are a couple of good books available on Call ducks. One is a British publication “Calls & Other
Bantam Ducks”. It’s available from Seven Oaks Game Farm & Supplies & other dealers. Another
desirable book is the revised “Call Duck Breed Book” by D. Sheraw. The NCBA online shop carries this
or it can be ordered from the ABA office. Of course, there’s always the ABA Bantam Standard. This will
give you the correct information regarding type & color of the accepted varieties.
Mrs. Avery lives in upstate NY with her husband, Dick. They are retired & spend their time gardening &
building more pens for their birds. She has raised & shown white & gray Calls for nearly 20 years. She is
an ABA Master Breeder of white Calls & also enjoy a collection of 10-12 breeds of wild waterfowl. To
enjoy more photos of her birds and facilities, check her Photo Pages.
quack or “call” and was developed, it’s believed, in Holland in the early 1800s. Their loud voice & small
size made them perfect little decoys for hunters. Carried in a pocket or basket, they were tied in the
marshes & used to entice migrating birds down. This practice ended many years ago, but the toy-like
little ducks continued to grow in popularity among collectors. They are now one of the top 5 breeds
shown in this country.
Calls are hardy little waterfowl & easy to keep but are not the easiest to propagate. The desired type has
evolved over the years from the racy, long bodied, long billed look of a Mallard to the short, round bodied,
short billed bird found in the showroom today. These traits have made breeding & hatching somewhat
more difficult than in other breeds like East Indies. With good stock & patience though, the rewards are
worth the effort.
When choosing breeding stock, be aware that the tiny bird you see on Champion row, while adorable,
often is useless for breeding. The tiny ducks may not lay & the smaller drakes often don’t breed or are
sterile. Choose your breeders from birds that have the correct type & good proportion but are a little
bigger. Thankfully, many judges today are taking these facts into consideration. They realize we may be
breeding the desired type Call out of existence by demanding smaller & smaller birds.
When choosing the duck you want to show or breed from, the word to keep in mind is “round”. The head
should be round with a definite crown or rise from the bill to the top of the head. The eye should be set in
the center, rather than towards the top of its head. The bill is short & broad, the neck is short & the head
carried back, not forward of the breast. The body is short & carried level on very short legs. The overall
appearance is that of a chubby, little toy.
There are a couple of good books available on Call ducks. One is a British publication “Calls & Other
Bantam Ducks”. It’s available from Seven Oaks Game Farm & Supplies & other dealers. Another
desirable book is the revised “Call Duck Breed Book” by D. Sheraw. The NCBA online shop carries this
or it can be ordered from the ABA office. Of course, there’s always the ABA Bantam Standard. This will
give you the correct information regarding type & color of the accepted varieties.
Mrs. Avery lives in upstate NY with her husband, Dick. They are retired & spend their time gardening &
building more pens for their birds. She has raised & shown white & gray Calls for nearly 20 years. She is
an ABA Master Breeder of white Calls & also enjoy a collection of 10-12 breeds of wild waterfowl. To
enjoy more photos of her birds and facilities, check her Photo Pages.
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