Drake or Duck??

[kellynichole14]

I'm stuck...I have 4 ducks, 1 Khaki Campbell, 1 Rouen and 2 Cayugas. They're right around 15 weeks old and I'm trying to figure out the genders. I have to know for a show and don't want them in the wrong class!! 3 of them (all but one of the Cayugas) are LOUD and none stop chatty when they see you. It's both quick quack quack quack and the occasional qqqquuuuaaaacckkkk and it sounds more raspy!! I've listened to various sound clips and they sound more like drakes but I can't really tell. I've heard so many things that's making me skeptically!! So my Rouen is one of the very chatty ones making me assume a girl but just recently it started getting white on its neck, making me think a boy! But then I read girls have more of the orange/brown beak stumping me again as mine has this. It's heads starting to get a green tint so I'm leaning more towards a drake. My Khaki is staying farley small and very chatty. It has light brown feathers with darker brown on the wings. Now the Cayugas....the one that barely talks has a tanish color on the front of its beak with more brown in its feet while the other is black everything from beak to feet (this is the noisy one.) No one's getting curled feathers on their tails either. I'm nervous about the vent check just because they're all a little squirmy and I don't know how well that would work out for me...hoping someone can give me insight because I'm really stuck. I can try to answer any questions that could possibly help solve the mystery!! Thanks!!!!

 

[Amiga]

My understanding is that vent sexing is for newly hatched ducklings - not sure, but I would not try it on ducks 15 weeks old.

Any way you might get a video uploaded to Youtube or Vimeo so we can hear it? Have you listened to Majestic's recordings of male and female quacks?

http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/artquacks.htm

 

[Duck Drover]

You can vent sex any age once they are big enough to see inside the vent. We have bantam ducks so I wait until they are around 2 weeks old but I can sometimes get boys to show themselves at just a few days old. We are voice sexing hatchlings this year, which is a bit different than voice sexing them once the hens start quacking. By far, vent sexing is the most accurate as long as you know what to look for and don't stretch the vent too much in the process on smaller ducklings. My daughter picked it up easily and there are actually videos online if it helps to see how it is done.