Breeding ducks, assigning genders.

[cassandrapettersson]

Okay sooooo...
I will be breeding my ducks this spring (Obviously) but, I have no idea how to tell gender.
When can i tell the gender? What age? Can i see the gender with newly hatched ducklings??

 

[SilverBirds]

What type of ducks are you breeding? There are a few easy ways to tell a ducks gender.

Voice sexing- Voice sexing is going to be one of the earliest methods you can use to sex ducklings. When ducks are about 8 weeks old you can usually tell gender by the sound of their voice. Females tend to be more chatty and have a distinctive "quack quack". Males are quieter and will have a low "whap whap" sound. Listening to videos will help you get better at telling the two apart.

Gender specific feathering- At around 10 weeks old males will grow curly tail feathers which they will have for most of the year. Some breeds will also have male specific coloring such that they get after their first year molt. Examples are Mallards, Rouens, and Khaki Campbells.

Egg laying- A sure fire way to tell the sex of a duck is whether or not it lays eggs. Depending on the breed, females will start to lay anywhere from 5-9 months old.

Sexing baby ducklings- Unless you know how to vent sex (which should only be done by professionals), it's almost impossible to know gender until the ducklings are at least 6-8 weeks and you can voice sex them. You can breed for sex link ducklings (which you can read about here), but most true breeds (if any) are not sex links.

 

[Isadora]

How to vent sex ducklings

 

[fin-dachickmasta]

If they have a yellow/green bill, and don't quack, Drake. If they have a normal cream or brown (all depends on the breed. some breeds may even have green bills) and quack, Duck. The quacking is a better way to tell though.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Depending what breeds some you can tell the second they are born
My pekin mom and khaki dad I can sex link at birth. The browns are girls the darks are boys
But sex linking can also be a nightmare as you know if you have 10 males no females
Really hard to sell them with that knowledge
For all my other ducklings that can’t be sex linked I know by 4-5 weeks
The girls will get a louder peep that sounds more like a quack. The boys will continue the baby peep noise