Any guesses on sex of these Muscovy ducklings

[Tessaturtle]

Hi There,
Hoping to get some educated guesses on the sex of our Muscovy ducklings that we had incubated. They are 3 weeks old with birthdates of 4/29 through 5/3, and they all have the same father and then there are two mothers who laid the eggs (no way to tell whose was whose). These are our first we have hatched. THe two hens are now laying on their own set of nests (although one nest has some eggs of both). Any help is appreciated!


This is the whole group. Big one on left, Piper, was born first by two days, but is a MONSTER it is HUGE! There are 2 brown ones we call Twin, born the same day, 2 days after Piper. THere is Runt, the black one cleaning itself which was born on 5/3 and is very small compared to Piper, and then CT is in the back there.

Good one for size difference.


Runt on right

Piper, Twin, and CT in foreground

 

[jdywntr]

Its hard to tell from the pics but size is the easiest indicator in muscovy. I can see a size difference in my week olds. The huge one is almost definitely a male.

BUT, since they didn't hatch the same day, it can be harder to determine. In muscovy, a day or 2 can make a difference. A noticable size difference will be definite but there can be runts and unthrifty youngsters that just don't grow.

If the biggest one has no one else that is close in size then you may have all girls except for him. Again, its hard to tell from the pics.

Nice looking ducklings though.

 

[Tessaturtle]

Thanks! The two mama's are chocolate and the daddy is a beautiful black, with a green sheen and white chest. I know I tried to get good pics, but they run so fast and with all the adult ducks around and the dogs, we keep them in a crate during the "field trips" outside!

We are trying to decide if we are going to sell some and keep some (also from the two natural hatches we are expecting) and we have someone who wants females (of course we would like to save a female or two also).

 

[jdywntr]

Believe me, I understand about trying to get good pics.

My bit of further advice would be to make sure you have a plan for any ducklings hatched. Planning to sell can backfire when you get no takers (I've been there). Or ending up with almost all males that you know you can't keep. I raise my ducks for meat so males are good for me. I haven't ventured into sales yet but with 15 just hatched and 2 more females setting, I may try to recoup some feed cost on extra ducklings.

 

[Going Quackers]

Main thing with 'scovies is size.. males are all about bulk, big feet/legs and then later as a whole big!

Here i'll show you.. my last hatch..

This is older like abouts 6-7wks



The lone duckling is off to the right in the pool. The rest are drakes.

Now some younger shots... the wee ducklet at the top lol




Ducklet off to the far left.. rest are boys!

I'd have to look up exact ages on these pics, off hand not sure..

This is them now.. she is the second duck from the front! you can see how wee she is... the biggest guy was hatched first( a wed and her and the two others the following day) and yes, her and the one boy are practically bookends..

 

[Tessaturtle]

THanks for the advice, yes we are raising for meat as well, so no worries, whatever ones we don't sell (we do have some people interested already) we will keep for ourselves to expand our flock or process for meat

 

[Tessaturtle]

THanks for the pic comparisons! NIce looking Muscovy's too! Our guesses here are that the two black ones we have are females, the big guy has to be male - he is monster sized! lol. the two twins we are undecided.