Any ideas why my (Muscovy drakes' tail feathers) are different??...

[critters]

In an earlier post about sexing muscovy ducks there was some questions about the drake having different
tail feathers than the duck...

I had said that my 17 week old drakes have one feather in their tails that sticks out farther
yet my older drake had lost his long feather with molting...

shown are my 2 drakes and 2 duck muscovy young'uns...you can see the males
have that one long feather...silver drake is Big Boy Ty, dark drake is Cutie Pie Cuddles,
the silver duck is Asia and the dark duck is Claire

Am only trying to show that my young drakes 'do' have a 'drake feather'
even if it is only for a short time.

Aren't the young'uns cute?



WHY DO MY DRAKES HAVE THE LONGER TAIL FEATHER THEN??? 10-22-11

 

[ian4379]

never seen it before, is it possible that the ducks have one too and they've just grown out before youve seen them? it looks like youve caught a picture of the tail feathers as they are growing and the middle one comes out first? i'll keep an eye out on mine, interesting.

its a pity they dont do this at 4 weeks! it obvious what sex they are at 17 weeks.

 

[birdboy508]

never seen it before eather.

 

[Going Quackers]

Pretty birds! i dunno.. not seen that happen with my boys.. i don't think there is a drake feather with the Muscovy breed. I actually have a hen with a tail like that right now lol

 

[iajewel]

They do not have different tail feathers. Some times they molt and they are short etc, but the tails are the same.

 

[critters]

OK...umm, then why do my drakes have this one long feather???
I am with them several times a day and have not seen this on my hens
and the drakes tail feathers all grew seemingly at the same rate THEN
the longer feather grew out...

so what gives...I have a group coming up that are 9 weeks right now
and I will have to watch their tails to see what happens with them...
(I believe I have a few drakes out of the six but too early for me to tell)
I also think the longer feather came out @11-12 weeks of age.....
Anyone know why my drakes have this feather then???

will watch for your input

Thanks!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have a Muscovy drake thats 19 weeks and I just went to look at his tail feathers, nope his aren't like that. But he is molting too. so maybe that what your seeing that one feather just hasn't dropped out yet on your boys. Looks like they maybe molting just looking at the tail feathers. They are beautiful by the way.

 

[iajewel]

They have that long feather bemuse they are either molting or coming out of molt. Trust me, i can promise you that Muscovy tails have no influence on their sex.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
I was just visiting your website. iajewel, it is awesome.

 

[iajewel]

Thank you very much. I just put that up. Im working on a Muscovy genetics section where photos of colors etc will be there with discriptions, so come back in a while if you like that sort of thing.