Need help with voice sexing ducklings, please.

[abidaby]

Hi,
I have 6 ducklings, 5 Indian runners and 1 Cayuga. They are 3 and half weeks old now and 1 has an obvious quack. There's 3 others that have a different sound to the duckling peeping sound that they were previously making. My question is do the males voices change this early too or do they stay peeping for a lot longer?
Thank you in advance,
Abi

 

[luckyduckchick]

Usually the one with the quack is the female, and the males will keep the peep until about 6 weeks when it will become hoarse and raspy. I'm not sure if it's the same for all breeds, but that seems to be the trend with my Cayugas.

 

[abidaby]

 

[abidaby]

I don't know if this video will work for you but this is my lot, the deeper noise is what most of them are making.

 

[Orca5094]

Your video is set to private, so we cannot view it. Can you change the settings to public?

 

[abidaby]

[VIDEO]

oops sorry!! Hopefully this is better.

 

[Orca5094]

The deeper noises are females starting to get their quacks. Sounds like you definitely have several. Males will keep their baby voice much longer.

Watch the brown one with the white ring around it's neck, it might be developing angelwing. If those wing tips start to stick out more, you'll want to wrap those. It is very easy to fix if caught this early, so just keep an eye on it to see if you'll need to wrap them or not.

 

[abidaby]

[VIDEO]

Thank you. Oh no really, that's Michelle. Can I do anything to prevent it? Is it to do with the protein?

 

[Orca5094]

Thank you. Oh no really, that's Michelle. Can I do anything to prevent it? Is it to do with the protein?

Aww, cute name! I see it in that video, too. You see how her wing tips stick straight up instead of lying down against her body like the others? It does usually have to do with them getting too much protein in their diet, but it can also sometimes be genetic. Too high protein is the most common cause, though. Don't worry too much though, it is very easy to fix. I would just keep an eye on her wings for a couple days and see if they continue to turn out more. If they do, you just need to wrap, or "tape", those wing tips down into the normal position for a couple of days and that should fix her right up. Very very easy when they are this young. Once they start to get their flight feathers in, it's much harder to fix. So, you have some time. No worries!

I'm not an expert on foods available in other countries, but you might want to get them on a lower protein diet. That should help, and will prevent this from happening to more of them.

 

[abidaby]

I see it now you mention it! Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I'll keep a close eye on her