6 week old ducklings—sex? (Think I was wrong!)

[Jenjenners]

So...I got these 3 sweeties at about a week old, they’re 6 weeks old now. They are from a mixed flock of Pekin, Runner, and Swedish. The grey obviously pulls runner, the white obviously pulls Pekin, and the black one that originally pulled Swedish is a gorgeous copper/black. I was convinced the Pekin and Swedish were females and the Runner was a male, because they started making quacking sounds early on, and the Runner sounded very babyish. Well, the Runner suddenly started quacking noisily about a week ago and hasn’t stopped—so obviously she’s a girl—but now I’m worried the other two are males... Do I have a grace period of another 2 weeks until they are 8 weeks before I despair of them being males? The Pekin has always been very quiet in general, but the Swedish used to be the noisiest as a baby, and I still swear it was showing early signs of quacking! *sigh*. Only concerned because I’m worried about the ratio...

 

[Isaac 0]

The runner is a female, the other two are males.

 

[Ratchnick]

I cant tell who is making what noise.

 

[Isaac 0]

I cant tell who is making what noise.

Uhh, You kind of half to have specialized pinpoint hearing accuracy like me to be able to tell .

 

[Jenjenners]

The grey one is making the obvious quacky sounds, the black one the next quieter sounds, and the white is pretty quiet. Let me see if I can separate them and get video.

 

[Jenjenners]

That’s what I was afraid of!

The runner is a female, the other two are males.

 

[Isaac 0]

That’s what I was afraid of!

Yeah, you'll either need to get rid of one of the males and see how a one to one ratio works out, or buy at least six more females for the two drakes.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

They're so incredibly adorable! Any chance you could add 6 females asap (like @Isaac 0 stated), so hopefully integration won't be too difficult? I know you've got some tough decisions ahead but we wish you the very best with your cuties! I need some ducklings after seeing this! Especially runners, which I've wanted to add to my flock. Gah, my heart feels like it's missing something now!

 

[Jenjenners]

6 more is a lot. We have the perfect setup for 3, I was of course gambling on this not being the situation... Would another option be to trade the female back to the breeder for a male, could 3 males get along ok w/no females? We do have enough land for more, we have an acre, and I’d love eggs...but 7 noisy females might be a bit much for the neighbors...

(It’s warm all year here, there are no real predators other than dogs or mongoose, so I know our current setup outside my window looks minimum, but they do free range the yard when I’m home and watching...Their food was outside when this was taken, I fed them breakfast in the yard...)

 

[HeatherKellyB]

6 more is a lot. We have the perfect setup for 3, I was of course gambling on this not being the situation... Would another option be to trade the female back to the breeder for a male, could 3 males get along ok w/no females? We do have enough land for more, we have an acre, and I’d love eggs...but 7 noisy females might be a bit much for the neighbors...

(It’s warm all year here, there are no real predators other than dogs or mongoose, so I know our current setup outside my window looks minimum, but they do free range the yard when I’m home and watching...Their food was outside when this was taken, I fed them breakfast in the yard...) View attachment 2184485

I can relate to your situation. I ended up with 6 ducklings. We were given 4 to begin with and a self proclaimed duck "expert" at TSC told me that she was certain that I had 4 males and she'd be happy to help me find 2 females from the new batch they had just received. She said that she was right 99% of the time So being the incredibly gullible person that I am, I was grateful for her "assistance". Fast forward to a few months later and my initial 4 ducks were 2 Pekin Drakes, a Pekin duck and a Buff Orpington Duck. The two "females" she chose for me are a mallard Drake and a Cayuga drake Unfortunately I still haven't run into her again so that I can tell her that her sexing percentages have decreased significantly. We live, we learn. Good on you for having options from the start. That's certainly commendable