5 week old mallard duckling - BOY or GIRL??? (video of "quack")

[JulieinPA]

So I've been doing some reading about ducklings and such since we just got little "Peek a Boo." And we also picked up two more ducklings yesterday. But anyway - back to Peek a Boo ... Peek is a 5 week old Mallard duckling. We would really like to know if he/she is a girl or boy. So after doing some reading I learned that you can tell by their quack. So I videoed Peek a Boo quacking this morning to share with you all and get your opinion ... BOY or GIRL??

 

[JulieinPA]

Is he/she still to young to tell? (just wondering if that's why no one has an opion yet ... becaue of being unsure?)

 

[missnu01]

Does the duck ever actually quack like a duck, or does it just always peep?
Because when you have more than one duckling that is when you can tell who is who...
Because one might start quacking while another one is still just peeping...the quacker is the girl...the peeper is the boy...
It's hard to tell with only one duck of an age, simply because it might be peeping because it is a boy, or it might be peeping because it is too young to start quacking...
We have 4 mallard ducklings and 4 peking ducklings, and I'm not sure on the mallards, but with the pekings it's super easy to tell...3 quack all loud while one was still peeping...mr peeper has now started making a rasping sound...Like what a duck would sound like if it got laryngitis...

So here before too long if that duck starts making a rasping sound it is a boy...if it starts quacking then it's a girl.

 

[tull14]

Pretty sure its too early, still sounds like my 4 week old mallards (they are still peepers) now my 4 1/2 week old Pekin I'm almost 100% sure I have a pair, one quacks like a distinguished quack while the other is a raspy peep.

 

[cymbaline]

I am going to lean towards it being a boy because he sounds a little raspy. It's entirely possible that it's a girl though, and just not quacking yet.

Of my 3 new baby mallards, I ended up with 2 girls and a boy. One girl started quacking around 4 weeks and the other didn't start until just over 5 weeks. Both will still typically only quack loudly if they're upset about something, like being distanced from the others. The rest of the time they're kinda quiet. Here's a video of the one that didn't start until about 5 weeks ("Turkey"); she's about 6 weeks in the video. Maybe that'll give you an idea of what a little girl should sound like. She just kinda chatters a bit and then starts yelling at me, lol (the other babies had gone inside and she decided to run away instead, silly duck).

 

[desertdarlene]

I'm going for boy, too, because of the whistle in his voice. Is his bill turning green or yellow? It's hard to tell in the video.

 

[cymbaline]

At only 5 weeks I don't think his bill would be changing yet; mine are over 7 weeks and I just noticed my boy's was turning a few days ago.

 

[desertdarlene]

I've seen male mallards bills start to turn as early as four weeks.

 

[flockman]

I could be wrong but I am thinking that it is a male. It does sound a little raspy.

 

[Nasiru Mohammad Anka]

Female quack more than their male counterparts