Do I have 5 male Ducklings??????

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Ducks4us

Ducks4us

Crowing
8 Years
Mar 31, 2015
1,596
335
266
North Idaho
I have 5 ducklings who are now 5 weeks old. Still all 5 make quiet peeping/raspy sounds. Not a single one is quacking or changing voices at all. 3 runners 1 buff 1black Swedish... in case breeds make a difference. They are all soo quiet. I even caught them each individually and held them to see if anyone would quack to get back to the others. everyone was just quiet when I held them . If one cant find its way around the gate to get out with the others it just quietly peeps/raspy sounding noises until I go help it. No one ever lets out any loud noises. I was only going to be keeping girls. And I am getting afraid I have all boys. IS 5 weeks to early to know?
 
That's a little early to be making an absolute yes their all boys. It doesn't sound good tho. Yes the girls will make a loud quack and the boys will have the raspy voices.
 
pattyhen said:
That's a little early to be making an absolute yes their all boys.  It doesn't sound good tho.  Yes the girls will make a loud quack and the boys will have the raspy voices.  
Click to expand...

Okay thanks. I read on another post this morning that if you havent heard a quack by 6 weeks you can be sure.
Im soooo hoping for some girls!!
 
My Swedish is a talker - I feel like we knew she was a female for certain from day one. We hand raised and spoiled to death all of our baby ducklings - so they wouldn't protest at all when picked up. We have four ducks now that I was certain were drakes at two months. You'll know for sure as soon as you see the slightest hint of a curly tail feather.

In the yard as adults -- our boys are the talkative ones. They constantly puff up their chests and strut around making their little soft raspy noise. Our girls only make noise when they see you coming with the food bucket, but boy is it an absolute racket.
 
HenHoarder said:
My Swedish is a talker - I feel like we knew she was a female for certain from day one. We hand raised and spoiled to death all of our baby ducklings - so they wouldn't protest at all when picked up. We have four ducks now that I was certain were drakes at two months. You'll know for sure as soon as you see the slightest hint of a curly tail feather.

In the yard as adults -- our boys are the talkative ones. They constantly puff up their chests and strut around making their little soft raspy noise. Our girls only make noise when they see you coming with the food bucket, but boy is it an absolute racket.
Click to expand...

Okay good to know. These have been very tame but not been held much since about week 2, so i did expect some noise when i held them.
Do babies this young get a curly tail feather? The swedish has one single tail feather on the top that curls slightly. But i thought the curly feather didnt come in till they were older?
So do you not go by voices at all? Just wait for the feathers?
 
Voices just proved to be unreliable for me because of how calm my babies were... I have Swedish, pekin, cayugas, and welsh... I can't speak to the runners temperament but my girls were not very vocal. I waited until tail feathers started to curl to know for certain.

Maybe somebody else can add but again in my experience -- any slight curled tail feathers has been a drake.
 
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This is one of my two adult drakes - his tail is actuall much less "curly" than my khaki boy - but my girls all have flat flat tails.
 
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A couple more pictures if it helps..(The boys are in the top picture - all of the ducks in the lower picture are indeed 'ducks'!)

Before he ever changed color my khaki had curly tail feathers right between two and three months. I'd depend more on curly tail feathers than I would depend on quacks since your breeds won't change color as they age.
 
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