This listing is for 1 pair (1female 1 male) of Nutmeg Call Ducks.
Pastel calls have mallard like markings. The males head is a greenish graygray flanks and wing are a silvery brown.
These birds are not being sold as "show quality".
Our nutmeg calls are some of our larger calls.
Please read over the Terms and Conditions section before ordering.
Nutmeg Call pair
- Before completing your order please read over our shipping policies and the conditions of our "Live Arrival Guarantee" on our
Please also read over all of information contained in this listing.
Initialing the box above constitutes, knowledge, acceptance and understanding of all policies and/or information contained in this listing and on the shipping info pages listed above. If you have any questions please email us with them @ mallardlanefarms@gmail.com before completing your order. In our experience if left full-winged on open water, most wild ducks will eventually fly away. If you choose to keep wild ducks on open water we recommend having those birds pinioned. Pinioned birds have been made permanently flightless by the surgical removal part of one wing.
If you would like your birds pinioned please choose the pinion option above. If the pinion option is unavailable please use the "pinion my bird" listing instead.
Terms and conditions for pinioned birds
Pinioned birds will require time to heal before shipping. This is can take 1-3 weeks. You will receive an email within 72 hrs of check out with your shipping date. All birds on your order will ship together on the date in this email. If you would like any birds shipped separately on a different date please e-mail us at mallardlanefarms@gmail.com with this request. (Additional shipping charges may apply). We reserve the right to delay shipping if we feel the birds need longer to heal than originally estimated. Delays are normally 1 week or less.
Once the birds are pinioned, that portion of your order can not be changed or cancelled. For most orders birds will be pinioned within a few hrs of the order being placed. Price of the birds and pinion fees will not be refunded should customer want to cancel the order. If there is ever an issue on our end in providing the birds full a refund would be given.
All birds we sell are fully feathered and adult sized. We do not sell ducklings or half grown birds. Most of our birds are between 4 months and 1 year of age at the time that they are sold.
On our "Care Info" page you can find a list of frequently asked questions and answers concerning the care of your new birds. If you have questions not answered on this page please email them to us at mallardlanefarms@gmail.com and we will be glad to help you with them. Your questions may be added to our page.
Most photos used throughout our website show males in full color which is their winter/spring plumage. Your birds may or may not be in full color depending the particular species and the time of year in which you are ordering.
Please note all photos used on our website were taken here at Mallard Lane Farms and are of our birds. To better represent our birds we do not use any stock photos.
All about Call Ducks
The Call Duck was first bred in Holland in the 1600's, originally they were used as live decoy ducks. Their small size, about 2 lbs, made them easy to carry, and their loud voice was useful for calling down wild ducks.
In modern times, Calls are by far the most popular exhibition duck and are often the largest entry at any show. Today as they are standardized in the US, Calls should feature short deep bodies, heads which are high crowned and wide in the skull, and a bill which is short and wide.
Calls are bred in a number of colors, with more being introduced all the time. Probably the two most popular, and well established colors, are the White Call and the mallard colored Grey Call.
Call ducks make excellent pets, they are hardy and easy to care for. They also have a laid back personality and usually tame down well. Unlike wild waterfowl, once settled in these birds can often be left fullwinged without worry of them flying off.
One characteristic of the Call may need to be taken into consideration if noise is an issue, this being the hens loud quack or call. Although, they have not been bred for their calling ability for many generations, the hens retain a tendency to be noisy when excited.
Unlike most wild waterfowl, a Call drake may accept several hens, so it is possible to keep these birds in trios or quads. Calls are first year fertile, and have a long breeding season. Most of my Calls lay large clutches consisting of 6-12 eggs. Some of the more showy types are less proficient, laying only a few eggs in a season. The more showy calls also tend to be less healthy and hardy than larger calls. I believe this to be due to the large amounts of inbreeding that goes into producing the very small size of show quality birds. Here at Mallard Lane Farms we focus more on producing healthy, hardy birds that will reproduce, than on producing the show quality bird. If you are wanting to show birds or raise show quality birds, we recommend purchasing from a breeder who specializes in showing and breeding show quality calls.
Most Call hens make excellent mothers and will hatch and rear their own young. We often use our calls as surrogates for the eggs of more expensive ducks. The ducklings are also useful as teacher ducklings, when put in with the ducklings of a more challenging species, such as wood ducks, the Calls will teach the young to eat.
While we do often raise some nice calls, we do not show them, and we usually do not sell usually "show quality" birds. Most birds we sell will be Breeder-Pet QualityPictures of actual birds will provided for any birds that we we list as "show quality"
