Call Ducks: Domestic Waterfowl in the UK
A Short History of the Call Duck  and its Colours
The Call duck is the smallest breed of domestic duck, weighing only 1-1½lbs. Call ducks were literally developed as calling ducks, to call down the wild mallard to the great traps or decoys of the Fenlands of the UK and the marshes of Holland. They were first known as the decoy duck, the name coming from the Dutch word 'de kooi' meaning  'trap or cage'. First standardized in the UK in 1865, their origin is known to be Dutch - but where did the Dutch get them? Decoy ducks were used in Holland in the 1600s, but these are thought to have been decoy ducks by training (i.e. tame ducks) rather that the true Decoy or Call. The Call itself seems to have suddenly become popular in Holland around 1800. For this reason, van Gink (Holland),  suspected that the birds could have been imported from the Far East.  
Calls were virtually unknown in the show pen from 1900 to the 1970s. Then their popularity took off. They are now the largest entry at a show, often reaching over 300 at the British Waterfowl Association's Championship Show in November each year. Calls are cheap to keep and transport but really difficult to breed and find a winner. They are wonderful pets. 

The White Call and the Grey (Mallard) Call were the first two colours to be standardized in 1865. These two colours are still the most popular colour classes of Calls at Waterfowl shows. Since 1865, new colours have appeared. Harrison Weir wrote about Calls in shades of 'blue and buff ' in 1901, but it took until 1982 for the Blue Fawn (Blue Mallard) to be standardized. The Apricot was even later in 1997, even though it had been shown for many years, without a standard, because of its popularity. The Silver Call and Pied Call were standardized in 1982 as well. Due to the popularity of Call ducks in the 1980s and 1990s, the 'new' colours of Bibbed, Magpie and, of course, Apricot achieved a standard description in 1997. Since then, the Black, Chocolate, Dusky, Yellow Belly and Khaki have also been entered the Standards Book. Other popular colours are the Apricot Silver, and the Blue Silver which differ from the standard Silver only in having two extra blue genes and one blue gene respectively. 

Calls are very small and, in general do not lay a large number of eggs. Some females may not lay at all. Typical numbers of eggs are between 20 and 60 per year. This is quite unlike the Light Ducks which in the case of the Campbell can lay over 300 eggs per year. Partly for this reason, and partly because Call eggs are more difficult to hatch than Light Ducks and Indian Runners, good specimens of these birds are usually in short supply. 

Our book The Domestic Duck has an extensive chapter on where Call Duck came from and how they developed, and  illustrates many of the colours.

To find out more about Call Ducks and their colours, have a look at the Call Duck Association web site at  www.callducks.net and see the articles Call Duck Colour Explosion and Call Ducks a la mode

Please note that all photographs and text on this website belong to Chris & Mike Ashton. They should not be reproduced
without our permission i.e. they should  not be used for advertising or commercial purposes.
Please telephone 01938 554011 for availability of books or stock 
We are in the UK near Shrewsbury on the border of England and Wales. 
We breed a limited quantity of pure breeds of domestic geese and Indian Runners, Hook Bills, Abacot Rangers and Call ducks each year. We do not sell hatching eggs.