Males or Females

[MallardDuckling]

This is my first experience raising ducks so I have an untrained eye for telling males and females apart. I have Muscovies, so you can't sex them like you would another duck (drake feathers etc). I've been reading online how to sex, and I've been looking real close at my ducks lately, but with an untrained eye, I'm still not 100% sure I'm right.

My white one: I want to say it's a female. I've named her Martini.

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Chocolate & White? I think it's a female. I've named her Kahlua.

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Black & White? I think this one is a male. I've named him Roosky.

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And last but not least...

Chocolate & White? I think another male, whose been named Whiskey

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I apologize for such sucky pictures. My camera is broken so they aren't real good anymore.
If you need other prictures since these are kinda crappy let me know. It's hard to photograph moving birds with a crappy camera lol.
Anything others can tell that I can't?

 

[zooweemama]

Female and male ducks don't really show their true colors physically until they are fully feathered and their breed is true. Like a female mallard and a male mallard- totally different in appearance but you would have to wait until they were completely feathered and for some of them after their juvenile molt too. Around 16 weeks (your mileage will vary- ducks are individuals) or so the males will get a drake feather son their tales- these cute little curly cues. Unmistakable when you see them. Before then- by 6-8 weeks old you should be able to tell by their quacks. Females are loud and quack a loud hard goose-y quack sound. Male ducks speak softly- very very quietly with a whispery 'whaaaaah. whaaaaah." not even quacky sounding at all and as I said they are a LOT quieter. You won't be able to in the above pictures by looks alone. Look for the quacks and the low whack sounds around 6-8 weeks. After that watch for the drake curls around 4-5 months old. And after that- if they are bred true (not mixed) then some breeds look different when they get their adult feathers from gender to gender. Beyond that...look for eggs.

 

[Going Quackers]

By 5-6wks i can nail it down...

You look right to me... the drakes don't feather as fast they have bare wings longer and they are HUGE i mean seriously my 7wk old is almost as big as his mum... ducks just aren't. Since Muscovy aren't mallard derived as you said the more common voice, colours and tail feathers don't apply.

Line 'em all up..( i know hard but group them as close as possible) the males will stand out like sore thumbs. I'll show you a snap of my "baby"

I'll see if i can find an even more recent...



How old are they?

 

[Going Quackers]

Female and male ducks don't really show their true colors physically until they are fully feathered and their breed is true. Like a female mallard and a male mallard- totally different in appearance but you would have to wait until they were completely feathered and for some of them after their juvenile molt too. Around 16 weeks (your mileage will vary- ducks are individuals) or so the males will get a drake feather son their tales- these cute little curly cues. Unmistakable when you see them. Before then- by 6-8 weeks old you should be able to tell by their quacks. Females are loud and quack a loud hard goose-y quack sound. Male ducks speak softly- very very quietly with a whispery 'whaaaaah. whaaaaah." not even quacky sounding at all and as I said they are a LOT quieter. You won't be able to in the above pictures by looks alone. Look for the quacks and the low whack sounds around 6-8 weeks. After that watch for the drake curls around 4-5 months old. And after that- if they are bred true (not mixed) then some breeds look different when they get their adult feathers from gender to gender. Beyond that...look for eggs.

Not with Muscovy, they are not derived from a mallard so no drake feathers, no quacks.. the drakes NEVER quack they hiss.. like a ticked off cat lol It's mainly size that gives aways drake from duck.. they are huge my oldest guy has to be almost 15lbs... no joke.

an old picture but this is pair of mine.. drake right, left duck.. they were only a few months old.. all the same hatch..

 

[MallardDuckling]

They will be 7 weeks tomorrow.

The only one I really keep doubting myself on is Whiskey, who I thought was male. When they were younger, s/he was the size of Martini and Kahlua. As it got older, it got bigger. They were all eating next to each other a few minutes ago and when I looked, s/he looked about the same size as the 2 I think are females. I'm fairly certain Roosky is a male. Since about 4 weeks he's been opening his mouth hiss like. He doesn't really hiss a whole lot, just opens his mouth when he doesn't like something or feels threatened mainly. I haven't see any of the others do it yet.

 

[Going Quackers]

They will be 7 weeks tomorrow.

The only one I really keep doubting myself on is Whiskey, who I thought was male. When they were younger, s/he was the size of Martini and Kahlua. As it got older, it got bigger. They were all eating next to each other a few minutes ago and when I looked, s/he looked about the same size as the 2 I think are females. I'm fairly certain Roosky is a male. Since about 4 weeks he's been opening his mouth hiss like. He doesn't really hiss a whole lot, just opens his mouth when he doesn't like something or feels threatened mainly. I haven't see any of the others do it yet.

That one made me pause to BUT the lack of wing feathers by 7 weeks is making me lean to drake, they do come in different sizes lol not all are as big.. my black drakes are BIG but still not as big as spot my oldest male they are less than 6mths apart... they turn 1yo in Aug.. spot turned 1 in May(3rd) ...

Forgot, ducks hiss lol get a mad duck you'll hear it, we allowed some breeding this year... so trust me a 'scovie girl makes a whole of a lot of noises.

 

[MallardDuckling]

That one made me pause to BUT the lack of wing feathers by 7 weeks is making me lean to drake, they do come in different sizes lol not all are as big.. my black drakes are BIG but still not as big as spot my oldest male they are less than 6mths apart... they turn 1yo in Aug.. spot turned 1 in May(3rd) ...

Forgot, ducks hiss lol get a mad duck you'll hear it, we allowed some breeding this year... so trust me a 'scovie girl makes a whole of a lot of noises.

That's what I read, that males get their feathers later than females, so that's what I based my guess on.