Something was hanging from my duck's butt-and it's not an egg!

I let the ducks out this morning and I happened to look over at my Khaki Campbell as she was preening her feathers and there was what something thick and whitish and squiggly hanging from her rear end. It didn't fall all the way out and in fact got sucked back up inside her. It was much thicker than a string of spaghetti. What was it? She eats, looks very healthy, active and drinks. Her place is clean (I am a neat freak) and I have only one other duck. I just recently rescued her. Any ideas?

Are you sure she is a girl? Is she laying? If not, you may have a drake.

Well....."she" doesn't have any drake feathers curling up, and she does quack, but not as loudly as the other duck (that duck is a female...quite loud quacking.) and no neither duck is laying. The other duck I bought (a Welsh Harlequin) was born this spring so she might not be old enough the lay. How long does it take to get drake feathers?

Here is a picture of her from my previous thread. The one with the "butt issue" is the brown/khaki duck.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/688446/attention-duck-experts-need-your-help-newbie-questions

I also want to say you have a drake, and what you saw was it's penis....did it look "twisted?"

Is this what you saw?




Also drake feathers could have been pucked....either by itself or something else ie another duck, some kind of animal ect

Nebraskagirl said:

I let the ducks out this morning and I happened to look over at my Khaki Campbell as she was preening her feathers and there was what something thick and whitish and squiggly hanging from her rear end. It didn't fall all the way out and in fact got sucked back up inside her. It was much thicker than a string of spaghetti. What was it? She eats, looks very healthy, active and drinks. Her place is clean (I am a neat freak) and I have only one other duck. I just recently rescued her. Any ideas?

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If it was hanging out her rear end it could have been a collasped egg, they happen sometimes and possibly with her getting use to her new surrounds could make this happen, look around where they frequent and make sure she passed it, I had a hen with some gooey stuff hanging outside her bottom so i brought her in to clean her off in some nice warm water and decided to feel inside to make sure she wasn't having probelms laying and sure enough she had a collasped egg inside I had to pull it out, she is fine now and may have passed it herself but i didn't want to take any chances so I went ahead and did it for her. Then again it may have been a penis, they are cork screw shaped which sounds like it also. You'll know soon if you have a drake.

It wasn't really a corkscrew per se, more like a wiggly noodle, like a looser curl to it; definitely not straight though (I cannot believe I am actually trying to describe what might be a penis on a duck...LOL.) It was a bit longer than that on the picture.

As far as the egg possibility, I watched as it was retracted back inside and I looked on the ground and noticed nothing was passed. If I am looking inside this duck, how does one do this safely; the last thing I want is to hurt it.

Nebraskagirl said:

It wasn't really a corkscrew per se, more like a wiggly noodle, like a looser curl to it; definitely not straight though (I cannot believe I am actually trying to describe what might be a penis on a duck...LOL.) It was a bit longer than that on the picture.

As far as the egg possibility, I watched as it was retracted back inside and I looked on the ground and noticed nothing was passed. If I am looking inside this duck, how does one do this safely; the last thing I want is to hurt it.

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if she is having a problem passing an egg her bottom would most likely be messy. but what your describing sounds like a drakes penis, so I'd just leave them alone and see if you get to spot it again. which if it is a drake will probably not be too long. Do you have a kiddee pool set up for them? if so that would be a good time to sit and watch. I wouldn't try feeling around inside of her just yet.

I want to say what you have is a drake duck that possibly just got done breeding the other

Miss Lydia said:

if she is having a problem passing an egg her bottom would most likely be messy. but what your describing sounds like a drakes penis, so I'd just leave them alone and see if you get to spot it again. which if it is a drake will probably not be too long.

Do you have a kiddee pool set up for them? if so that would be a good time to sit and watch. I wouldn't try feeling around inside of her just yet.

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I can't quit staring at the butt now I have had these two ducks for a little over 3 weeks and this was the first time I noticed. We have a pool for them and they are in it quite a bit. Do drakes often show their penis? (Oh gosh I can't believe I just asked that!) What about drake feathers? Would it eventually get one? Does it appear to be a khaki campbell duck? (see above link to thread which shows the brown duck.)
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

This thread kinda cracked me up. My boys got their drake feathers at around 4 months old, so based on the age of yours you may not be showing drake feathers, yet.