12 Rouen Ducks?! Different color bills

[Meagan Brown]

About 3 to 5 eggs per hen each week.

Thank you! lets call it 4 per duck ( 12 ) = 48 eggs per week - wow! That is great.

 

[Meagan Brown]

Duck update for you friends. I think we have some males. A few of them (3-5 ducks) are starting to get black coloring around their beaks; seeming like a color change in their head feathers. Does this mean they are males? We are hearing whispering quacks, as well. My husband is OK with all girls, but I wouldn't complain if we have a couple of babies pop up.

 

[Meagan Brown]

We definitely have 6 boys - their feather color is changing on their heads. I will take some pictures tonight to share with you all. How exciting!

 

[Bochama]

We definitely have 6 boys - their feather color is changing on their heads. I will take some pictures tonight to share with you all. How exciting!

still waiting for those pics..5 years later

 

[MartinFamilyHomestead]

Hi everyone,
I am new duck mom and embracing the opportunity to learn as much as possible about these guys / girls. They are 11 weeks old ( estimate ), shedding feathers everywhere, found our pond and are very happy.

I believe we have all Rouen - I am guessing we have 3 females; due to the more brown tail feathers, compared to the 9 males with 'green tint' to their head in the sunlight.

My question for you all - there are 3 different color bill types amongst them all.
1) Dark brown / gray / black
2) Bright Orange
3) Light brown

What does this mean if anything?
Thank you in advance for your wisdom and advice!


--
Meagan & her 12 baby ducks.

All hens are good, if you ended up with what you originally thought you would have to get rid of some males. You need about 4-5 females per one male. That’s not an exact ratio but you definitely wouldn’t want 3 females and 9 males. The girls would get over bred and injured if not killed and the males would fight, also could end in death. So good that right now it’s looking like you have all females. Because of this it is a lot easier to find a drake to add to your flock instead of trying to get rid of them. Unfortunately a lot of drakes end up as meat birds bc there is higher demand for hens to keep egg production and a healthy ratio. I believe it is the 15 week mark that they say they will start to molt and get their adult feathers, but ducks are funny in the sense that they never follow the “norm”.

You can sex them a lot sooner by their voice. Females are very loud and have this “honk” the best way to know is to pick them up and hold them. Males are quiet. If all else fails then for rouens their head will turn green when they are mature and they will develop a curl on their tail.