I don’t believe bill / plumage color is an indicator of gender for this breed at this time. The most reliable thing I’ve found is voice-sexing, which is most accurate 4 weeks and up. Hens will get a noticeable voice change, making a peep-honk sound, and sometimes even a honk or two. Drakes will...
Color ID won’t be possible until they’re full grown. Your best bet is voice-sexing in a couple weeks. I find 4 weeks old to be very reliable.
Females will get a noticeable voice change, making a peep-honking sound, maybe even a honk or two, and males will keep their baby peep until they’re...
No, not an internal pip, but some nice shadowing. You can also listen for an internal pip. Hold the egg up to your ear, tap on the shell gently with your finger, and listen for a tapping sound or the baby peeping.
Safety holes don’t need to be put in right away, don’t worry too much!!
You...
I sold about 25 ducklings to a lovely family, had kids, super excited, amazing property.. then I found out later they don’t care about the sex ratio :th They believe it’s “natural” for boys to overmate the girls.. I wish I could recuse the poor hens, but I can only hope they’ll notice the duck...
The colors I know of that can be white with black bills are,
1. Splash ducks, which have a 25% chance to be produced from two Blue ducks. They may be all-white or near-white.
2. Black / Blue / Chocolate ducks, who all turn white as they age!
I too lost 2 of 3 ducks late last year; a coyote broke into my coop. I have a big pond, and it probably took my surviving drake about 3 - 4 days to come up off of it. I brought him inside and gave him a nice mirror to look in.
I found 2 adult hens a couple weeks after the attack and took them...
So beautiful ❤️ I’m glad Stinky Poopypants is still going!!
I love Tweedledee coming in and stealing the spot light.. broody birds have so much character.
It’s so early, you could certainly have more girls that haven’t found their voice yet. I found 4 weeks old to be accurate.
Shrink wrapping is actually a lot less common than people think. There should be pretty much no chance of it occurring until a baby pips / until you make a safety hole.
And, as long as you keep the humidity high and moisten the membrane during an assist, babies should be okay.
I’m sorry you lost your hen..
But I see your problem.. no girls, hand raised, daily affection.. this boy really wants to mate with you. Or at least dominate over you.
2 drakes, 2 hens won’t work. The hens will be overmated and face the same biting you are facing now. I recommend 1 drake to...