plasticlobster
Chirping
- Apr 8, 2021
- 24
- 66
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So my flock of 8 is around 3 months old now. I've determined through voice sexing that 5 are female (2 fawn and white runners, 3 khaki campbells), 2 (1 rouen and 1 khaki campbell with a perfectly-developed drake rasp) are male. There's one rouen, though, that's just confusing me. He seems to be the "odd duck." Several of them are starting to molt their juvenile feathers, including my rouens. These rouens are from the same hatchery and are around the same age, but they look entirely different.
The one I'm absolutely certain is a male is the one on the left in the photo of both of them. He's got the dark head starting at the bill, and you can see his white ring beginning to come in. He's even got some tail feathers beginning to curl.
The other one, who has been absolutely silent since he stopped peeping and cheeping in the brooder, so I've been sure he's a male, looks incredibly different. He's got a substantially bigger/longer bill, it's a different color (I'm color blind, so I won't speculate). No sign of the white ring coming in, and his stance is entirely different than the confirmed drake. Anyone have any thoughts here? I've been certain they're both males, but neither one of them has a drake rasp yet (they both kind of squeak if you pick them up). Aside from the complete lack of voice, I have nothing else to go on with this duck. Second photo is of the duck in question.
Is it possible this duck is a female?
The one I'm absolutely certain is a male is the one on the left in the photo of both of them. He's got the dark head starting at the bill, and you can see his white ring beginning to come in. He's even got some tail feathers beginning to curl.
The other one, who has been absolutely silent since he stopped peeping and cheeping in the brooder, so I've been sure he's a male, looks incredibly different. He's got a substantially bigger/longer bill, it's a different color (I'm color blind, so I won't speculate). No sign of the white ring coming in, and his stance is entirely different than the confirmed drake. Anyone have any thoughts here? I've been certain they're both males, but neither one of them has a drake rasp yet (they both kind of squeak if you pick them up). Aside from the complete lack of voice, I have nothing else to go on with this duck. Second photo is of the duck in question.
Is it possible this duck is a female?
It was super clear with the first one to me because he's developing so much faster than the other. He's hitting all the telltale drake milestones (white collar coming in, tail feathers curling, head turning super dark starting at the bill). But the different bill shape, color, lack of collar, etc, had me questioning the other, and also not having any confirmed female rouens to compare to (since both of my rouens lost the duck lottery) made it probably a bit tougher.
. She's beautiful. I can't wait to see the adult feathers come in!
