Any gender "tells" at an early age? I want to pick females, which I know is the impossible dream! :)

[Going Quackers]

Likely no, your too soon for vocals.. usually about 4-5wks.. more experienced can start to hear at about 3-4wks... sizing, bill colours that is all a dice roll and nothing precise about it whatsoever. I can fully appreciate your position however, if you already have 4 drake and only 1 female? you need to start thinking about how you'll handle this.. drakes at min should have 2-3 ducks per.

I would sort that existing flock and then worry about adding more... what do you want from ducks? meat, eggs, pest control? pets etc...

 

[willowbirdks]

Likely no, your too soon for vocals.. usually about 4-5wks.. more experienced can start to hear at about 3-4wks... sizing, bill colours that is all a dice roll and nothing precise about it whatsoever. I can fully appreciate your position however, if you already have 4 drake and only 1 female? you need to start thinking about how you'll handle this.. drakes at min should have 2-3 ducks per.

I would sort that existing flock and then worry about adding more... what do you want from ducks? meat, eggs, pest control? pets etc...

We've identified at least two drakes that will go, and have a few different options for dealing with that. We should have them sorted in the next couple of weeks. We're working on getting a few more girls so we can keep the remaining two drakes, but having a tough time as it seems like this bad ratio happened to multiple breeders in my area this year...

So that's why we're looking to add females. Magpies were my second choice of duck anyway, and this seems to present a good possible solution... Though I know in the end it's just luck of the draw with gender once again.

We are mainly interested in eggs and pets, and want more than a pair of ducks at the end of the season...

 

[Going Quackers]

We've identified at least two drakes that will go, and have a few different options for dealing with that. We should have them sorted in the next couple of weeks. We're working on getting a few more girls so we can keep the remaining two drakes, but having a tough time as it seems like this bad ratio happened to multiple breeders in my area this year...

So that's why we're looking to add females. Magpies were my second choice of duck anyway, and this seems to present a good possible solution... Though I know in the end it's just luck of the draw with gender once again.

We are mainly interested in eggs and pets, and want more than a pair of ducks at the end of the season...

Okay if you after eggs and pets, keep the drake level down, otherwise stressed females will effect laying and overall harmony. I do understand i have had a few years myself of heavy drake hatches, finally this year i have turned and have gotten many females for my Muscovy flock. Best of luck with yours.

 

[willowbirdks]

Okay if you after eggs and pets, keep the drake level down, otherwise stressed females will effect laying and overall harmony. I do understand i have had a few years myself of heavy drake hatches, finally this year i have turned and have gotten many females for my Muscovy flock. Best of luck with yours.

Thanks for your advice. I know it is early to tell temperament for sure, but one of the two drakes we would like to keep is very mellow. He is a go with the flow kind of guy, and gets along with everyone... Plus he's a silver! The other drake has some really good qualities as far as foraging, coloring, and intelligence, but he is not laid back. I'm hoping that these two with a few more ladies will work as a flock... But only time will tell for sure if we get Magpie hens and if the flock dynamics will work out.

 

[willowbirdks]

So... Is it possible for a three week duckling to quack pretty consistently? We have one who is very confident and domineering, and more than half of its peeps are cute little quacks.

The others mostly peep. The friend who gave us the ducklings counted back from the hatch date and was quite certain that the oldest were 3 weeks.

I might try to upload a video if I can figure that out... I'm so surprised to hear anything that isn't just a peep that I'm questioning my own ears!

 

[farm316]

So... Is it possible for a three week duckling to quack pretty consistently? We have one who is very confident and domineering, and more than half of its peeps are cute little quacks.

The others mostly peep. The friend who gave us the ducklings counted back from the hatch date and was quite certain that the oldest were 3 weeks.

I might try to upload a video if I can figure that out... I'm so surprised to hear anything that isn't just a peep that I'm questioning my own ears!

Our earlier ducklings at (3) months would start to quack… it would be like a peep then a small cracked quack.
Its good that you have a mellow drake and its also good for you other drake with coloring and this…
Having a mellow drake is a pro and a con:
Prosuring mating season he will be less aggressive. Con:They may be more skittish with you than non mellow
The pros with you other drake would be: Better coloring means better genes, also the foraging means that he would not go as hungry if you forgot to feed,
Cons:Maybe being aggressive to the females when in mating season.

It would be good if you could keep 2 of them but that may be hard…
I hope this helps