Are these Call ducklings boys?

[quackkquack_]

Hi again!
So I have a quick question,
I have six call ducklings, they are a mix of a Snowy and I think a Blue or Grey Dusky (not sure of her exact breed).
Here are some pictures of their parents:
Buzzard (their father)

Newt (their mother)

3 out of 6 are blue and brown like Newt and the other 3 are black and brown.
The three black and brown ones are Fawn, Jellyfish and Puma.
Here are some pictures:

They have all started growing their feathers on their head and I noticed the three brown and black ones have a green shine to their head.
I'm sure it means they are boys but I want to confirm, does this mean these three are boys?
Also, I heard one of them honk/quack, pretty sure it was Fawn (or Jellyfish, they look almost identical) which confused me since they have a green shine to their heads!

I'm crossing my fingers this doesn't mean they are boys but I'm sure it does, I was really hoping they'd be girls, or at least Puma be a girl!

EDIT: The ducklings were cleaning themselves after swimming and I listened closely to Fawn (one of them that has a green shine to their head) and I heard her honk! Which is confusing the heck out of me!

Also Buzzard is pretty aggressive so what is the best way to introduce them?
Also the ducklings are gonna be 5 weeks old on the 11th!

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Hi again!
So I have a quick question,
I have six call ducklings, they are a mix of a Snowy and I think a Blue or Grey Dusky (not sure of her exact breed).
Here are some pictures of their parents:
Buzzard (their father)
View attachment 3570565 View attachment 3570566

Newt (their mother)
View attachment 3570567 View attachment 3570569View attachment 3570568

3 out of 6 are blue and brown like Newt and the other 3 are black and brown.
The three black and brown ones are Fawn, Jellyfish and Puma.
Here are some pictures:
View attachment 3570573 View attachment 3570574 View attachment 3570575

They have all started growing their feathers on their head and I noticed the three brown and black ones have a green shine to their head.
I'm sure it means they are boys but I want to confirm, does this mean these three are boys?
Also, I heard one of them honk/quack, pretty sure it was Fawn (or Jellyfish, they look almost identical) which confused me since they have a green shine to their heads!

I'm crossing my fingers this doesn't mean they are boys but I'm sure it does, I was really hoping they'd be girls, or at least Puma be a girl!

EDIT: The ducklings were cleaning themselves after swimming and I listened closely to Fawn (one of them that has a green shine to their head) and I heard her honk! Which is confusing the heck out of me!

Also Buzzard is pretty aggressive so what is the best way to introduce them?
Also the ducklings are gonna be 5 weeks old on the 11th!

Looks like you may have blue fawn and grey ducklings. That is their color, not their breed.
The males and females kind of all feather out similar initially and will go through a juvinile molt in a few weeks and show their true colors.
The most reliable way to tell sex is by their sound. Females have a definate QUACK and males will go from baby sounding peeps and cheeps to a low raspy smokers cough sound seemingly overnight.

 

[quackkquack_]

Looks like you may have blue fawn and grey ducklings. That is their color, not their breed.
The males and females kind of all feather out similar initially and will go through a juvinile molt in a few weeks and show their true colors.
The most reliable way to tell sex is by their sound. Females have a definate QUACK and males will go from baby sounding peeps and cheeps to a low raspy smokers cough sound seemingly overnight.

Oh right, I dunno what I said breed, I was reading a lot about chickens and their breeds yesterday so I guess it stuck in my head
But thank you for correcting me!

I used to see mallard ducklings molt into their true colors after a few weeks all the time (since we have mallards in our pond) but for some reason when my Snowy call Buzzard was growing his feathers, he looked like a male before he started molting (he had a green head and everything) but when I saw mallard ducklings, they all looked like females before molting and then some turned out to be males which was why I was asking if that meant my three brown babies were gonna be males!

But I guess I'll have to wait a couple or more weeks to tell their genders by voice!

 

[quackkquack_]

(Warning, sad and gruesome content is talked about in this post)

Hi guys..
I waited a few days before making this post. I didn't want to make a whole new thread so I just posted it here.
I really feel like the one to blame but let me explain..
We have a duck enclosure outside obviously. We use chicken wire so sadly snakes can get in but I've been saving up for better wire (specifically hardcloth wire, we are tight on money right now but its definitely getting better).
Our ducklings aren't allowed inside the house once they are bigger so they got big (almost as big as the adults now) so we put them outside.
The runts, Pika and Puma, were obviously pretty small since they were the runts but they had to go outside still.
The ducklings stay in a big dog crate in the duck enclosure and I let them out every morning and watch them so Buzzard doesn't attack them.
Two days ago I went outside to let them out and sadly a snake had gotten to the two runts, Pika and Puma.
The ducklings were too big for the snake which confuses me why it got Puma after it killed Pika (when I went down there, Pika was already dead and it was killing Puma but it was already too late)
I was able to get the other four ducklings inside including their parents too.
I've been crying about them since they died, they were the two ducklings I was the closest too since they trusted me the most, me and Pika would stay up late and watch movies together. I was also really excited to see how Puma would look like when he was older since he had a lot of black and he had kinda like a raccoon mask.
I was able to keep the ducklings inside for a little longer while I get the money to get hardcloth wire so nothing can get inside. The adult ducks, Newt and Buzzard, have to stay outside though but I've been watching them constantly and keeping my eye out for any more snakes.

I still feel like the one to blame, I didn't have the proper resources to protect them. Thinking about what happened that day makes me sick to my stomach.
I hope I can protect the remaining ducklings and their parents better.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Believe me it happens I had a 6' black snake hiding in the loft of one of my coops and at night it came down and killed and tried to eat one of my pullets of course all he did was suffocate it since she was too big to swallow. So when things like this happen It's heartbreaking and we blame ourselves. Hopefully the others will be safe until you can get the hardware cloth up and they will be better protected. I am so sorry you lost your 2 little ones.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I don't kn ow Calls all that well so can't answer that question but maybe @WVduckchick can since she has Calls. Or @shawluvsbirds or @Pyxis

As for intros the best way is look no touch side by side and can't give a time line becasue it all depends on the ducks .A large dog crate inside the coop so they can all sleep together. This is how I am going to integrate my 2 Runner ducklings into the Runner /Buff flock when mama says she's done[she is a Muscovy] They will sleep inside the coop in a large dog crate until they are accepted.
During the day I will be spending a lot of time outside with them to make sure they are not being picked on. Actually, in the last 3 weeks I have spent more time out than in watching for Snakes that like to eat ducklings.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I don't have Calls but I have noticed that some of my females take longer to get their quack and once they get it they are very opinionated and like to let everyone know. lol

 

[quackkquack_]

Oh right, I dunno what I said breed, I was reading a lot about chickens and their breeds yesterday so I guess it stuck in my head
But thank you for correcting me!

I used to see mallard ducklings molt into their true colors after a few weeks all the time (since we have mallards in our pond) but for some reason when my Snowy call Buzzard was growing his feathers, he looked like a male before he started molting (he had a green head and everything) but when I saw mallard ducklings, they all looked like females before molting and then some turned out to be males which was why I was asking if that meant my three brown babies were gonna be males!

But I guess I'll have to wait a couple or more weeks to tell their genders by voice!

Yeah again today I heard one of the boys quack (and I know for sure this time because he was by himself when he did it)!
Maybe it's just their voices changing but I never heard Buzzard quack when he was younger.

 

[quackkquack_]

I have another question about one of my girls, Tokki.
Fawn and Jellyfish are definitely boys, they've got green heads just like their father and they don't quack.
Pike and Tokki both don't have green heads and Pike is always quacking up a storm just like her mother but Tokki doesn't quack, she doesn't peep like the boys either, she still sounds like a baby despite being the biggest.
I assume shes gonna be a quiet one. Maybe its just taking longer for her voice to develop?

 

[A boy with ducks]

Hi again!
So I have a quick question,
I have six call ducklings, they are a mix of a Snowy and I think a Blue or Grey Dusky (not sure of her exact breed).
Here are some pictures of their parents:
Buzzard (their father)
View attachment 3570565 View attachment 3570566

Newt (their mother)
View attachment 3570567 View attachment 3570569View attachment 3570568

3 out of 6 are blue and brown like Newt and the other 3 are black and brown.
The three black and brown ones are Fawn, Jellyfish and Puma.
Here are some pictures:
View attachment 3570573 View attachment 3570574 View attachment 3570575

They have all started growing their feathers on their head and I noticed the three brown and black ones have a green shine to their head.
I'm sure it means they are boys but I want to confirm, does this mean these three are boys?
Also, I heard one of them honk/quack, pretty sure it was Fawn (or Jellyfish, they look almost identical) which confused me since they have a green shine to their heads!

I'm crossing my fingers this doesn't mean they are boys but I'm sure it does, I was really hoping they'd be girls, or at least Puma be a girl!

EDIT: The ducklings were cleaning themselves after swimming and I listened closely to Fawn (one of them that has a green shine to their head) and I heard her honk! Which is confusing the heck out of me!

Also Buzzard is pretty aggressive so what is the best way to introduce them?
Also the ducklings are gonna be 5 weeks old on the 11th!

Try asking @dunkinducks she would know it might be hard to get a hold of her but if you can she would know also
If sound like squeek squeek squeek its a girl if it sound like SQUEEEEK…………..SQUEEEEEK its a boy