Call

The call duck is a bantam domestic duck developed from small decoy ducks once used to lure wild ducks toward traps or hunters. Modern call ducks are kept mainly for exhibition and companionship, with a compact body, short bill, rounded head, and a very loud voice for their size. They come in many standardized and nonstandard colors, including white, gray, pastel, black, blue, chocolate, buff, magpie, bibbed, and mallard-patterned varieties.

Their small size makes housing easier in one sense, but call ducks are not silent apartment-style birds and many can fly well enough to leave an uncovered yard. Secure pens, shallow bathing areas, and fine protection from cats, hawks, and other predators matter more than with heavier breeds. Breeding exhibition-type call ducks can be demanding because very short bills and compact skulls may reduce hatchability in some lines. Practical keepers select for lively, sound birds that can eat, preen, mate, and hatch without unnecessary intervention, while still preserving the rounded call duck type.

Colors: Apricot, Bibbed, Black, Blue, Buff, Chocolate, Fawn, Gray, Magpie, Mallard, Pastel, Penciled, Pied, Runner Pattern, Silver, Snowy, White