It would be neat to figure out what is the root cause of the coloring! I still have never seen them mate, but I've seen a bullseye in the yolks. So if he isn't, the blue swedish is doing it.
I will go out and try to seperate to listen closely. We have 9 older ducks so its hard to differentiate. I'm pretty good with vent sexing ducks because their penis is so obvious, and it grew larger and with the chest coloring I associated with a male. But anything is possible, I certainly an noy...
I'm assuming some drakes just never get good coloring on their head/neck? These 5 are over 1 year old. I've also never seen him mount any of the 3 girls there, ever. And he doesn't have a tail feather curl. But the dark breast, greenish beak and larger size tell me it's a male regardless. Is...
I think you're right. I wondered if it could be a gold necked duccle because they're on the same spectrum but usually lighter. We got one once from hoovers even though they didn't list them as a variety they carried.
I did this with about 30 chicks at my local farm store (with an employee, as they suggested it) and then vent sexed them directly after. It was right more than it wasn't, but 50-50 statistics often go that way before evening out eventually. So while it may give a clue, I don't think it's a hard...
Looks male for sure if it's at 4 weeks. In another 2 weeks it will be obvious either way.
As for breed... where did you get it? And does it have yellow legs or white or pink?
Here is a pic from fb of someone's Pyncheon.
Here is the before healing. This hen was one of the worst. Her foot looks brand new now!
I've since had a rooster get it so terribly that I am considering amputation for his leg. The infection was so bad it literally ate up 2 of his toes and filled his 'ankle' with a massive core and pus. I've...
We had the previous owner of our property leave a bunch of old glass jars in the fields and the barn, and they were tilled into the soil long before we bought the property. This means that where my chickens scratch around there is literally every day another couple dozen bits of shattered glass...
I still can't determine if they are actually runners even at 2.5 months. Lol! They don't quite stand up straight enough, though I've never seen them run. They're very pretty though! And very afraid. Even though we handled them a lot. We've had tons of rain here and they love all the puddles.
@cheezenkwackers
Actually? I THINK I might have figured it out! They line up with mixed runner/fawn runner duckling pics!
And I have wanted runners for so long! 😍😍🙏🙏
Darn! I was hoping it would be clearer. I really don't know either! Somtimes they could be a dark phase of a lighter duck? Anyways, I am excited to see too!
Here are some updated pictures. They aren't looking like my previous silver swedish. Additionally, the are MUCH larger than their Magpie and Rouen pals. Magpies are obviously not a large breed. But rouens are a large breed, and they're still bigger by a good margin.
Actually going back and looking at our pictures...yeah they do seem like silver swedish. Boooo! We were wanting something different. I didn't need more of the same ducks, lol!
I have had all the swedish duck colors. I thought maybe they could be, but they look different than my silver swedish did as ducklings. Plus the eye stripe.
I have kept ducks (huge variety of breeds) with chickens for many, many years with zero issues. Never had a mounting situation between breeds. From about 8 weeks on I let them mix.