SWEDISH Duck Thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nickeechickee]

So I still cannot tell if my Swedish is a duck or a drake. No curly tail feather but not laying yet either (about 26 weeks old at this point). Quieter than the pekin but lately has started squawking periodically like someone stepped on her/him even though no one is near.

 

[barnyard betty]

So I still cannot tell if my Swedish is a duck or a drake. No curly tail feather but not laying yet either (about 26 weeks old at this point). Quieter than the pekin but lately has started squawking periodically like someone stepped on her/him even though no one is near.

My Swedish Blue hen hatched last year spring 2012 and started laying mid fall last year. Has laid one egg every single day since. She got her "quack" prior to starting laying and was noisier than the drake. Our BS drake (same age) got his drake feather at about the same time she started laying. I suspected she was a female prior to this by her bill being darker (the drakes was more greenish) and turned out to be right. Her legs were also more dark than his. I would say you probably have a hen with her being kinda loud. and will probably start laying this fall. Hope this helps.

 

[GAIL328]

Duckies on a stroll.

 

[Nickeechickee]

Quote: Thanks. I will try to get a pic of her. Our friends had a drake - he had the curly tail feather and I thought more brilliant plumage than ours (we have some green but it is duller). Hers were about 3 weeks older and got the curly tails about 2 months ago I think. The Pekin started laying eggs at 20 weeks and my EE at 24, so was just expecting something sooner...hopefully you are right and she is just a late bloomer. She was hatched in March.

 

[ShayBaby]

So I still cannot tell if my Swedish is a duck or a drake.  No curly tail feather but not laying yet either (about 26 weeks old at this point).  Quieter than the pekin but lately has started squawking periodically like someone stepped on her/him even though no one is near.

By your description of the squawking, I'd bet she's a girl. My girls do that, but the boys can't "talk" loud enough to do it. Also, my oldest girls (different breeds, but black swedish included) are now somewhere between 28-30 weeks and still not laying.

 

[SunnySkies]

So I still cannot tell if my Swedish is a duck or a drake.  No curly tail feather but not laying yet either (about 26 weeks old at this point).  Quieter than the pekin but lately has started squawking periodically like someone stepped on her/him even though no one is near.

Neither of my drakes have a curly tail. One had a bluish beak and one has a greenish beak, but the voices give it away. The girls are very loud. The boys try to get loud, but in comparison, they are not. You can hear the girls all the way across the yard. My girls hatched in May, but I'm not expecting eggs until November.

 

[Nickeechickee]

I would call her beak black? I don't know, nothing to compare it to. I guess I will give it another month or so and see if we get an egg! I had no idea that Swedish were so much slower to lay than Pekins.

 

[GAIL328]

Neither of my drakes have a curly tail. One had a bluish beak and one has a greenish beak, but the voices give it away. The girls are very loud. The boys try to get loud, but in comparison, they are not. You can hear the girls all the way across the yard. My girls hatched in May, but I'm not expecting eggs until November.

Mine just started laying a week ago and she was born april 10th

 

[Nickeechickee]

Quote: We got ours at the end of March. She would have hatched around March 23rd.

 

[Nickeechickee]

If anyone was wondering, Daffy laid today! An obvious difference from the Pekin - her eggs have a dark gray bloom that rubs off pretty easily. With the Pekin and my EE's eggs for reference: