Aussie Spot ducklings- What sex are they?

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep,
just just have to get over the squirming part, hold them firm and bend the tail down and take a look.
I've gotten to when I can about do it one handed.
With time it will come as second nature to you.

Let me know if you have any trouble

 

[sianara]

Quote:
Parents are both blueheads. I'm pretty sure the two ducklings that died early on

were both silverheads as they were all yellow.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep you can get all 3 from them then. If they were mainly yellow, then yes, they were silvers

 

[sianara]

Quote:
I noticed tonight the larger female's head coloring is a little different from the other two so will try to get real close up pix of them soon for further ID'ing their color.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

I noticed that a few pics back, one is a good brown headed bird, one not.

Get some good head shots as close as possible

side "profile" shot

and a tail shot showing the hole rear end

That will help a lot on them

Look back at your adult pics while in full color. Notice how the wings have a silvery blue look to them, and on the drake, the "black" area of his tail isnt glossy black, it's a dull greyish black (blue)

That's what it's going to take to tell one from the other at this point as that's about the only difference in a blue and green head. Greens will be shiny iredecnt black where black is, on the blues it will be that washed out faded blue grey black color.
The wings on hens are the easiest way to check. See how silver your adult hens are? If they arent like that, they are green heads also her body will be over all paler as blue dilutes the body color.

 

[sianara]

Ok, here are a few shots from yesterday.

The brown headed girl who was previously known as "undecided"

The male



The male front left



Male in back female in front



Female left front, male right front



Male in front, female on ramp

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

thinking green heads for now.

Have the hens started quacking yet?

Reason I ask, is they seem to be getting whiter and whiter as they age, they shouldnt be for hens, they should be colored like you adult hen.....all brown or tan

this might end up being all 3 drakes with odd bill coloring unless you have heard them do the good ol loud quack.
The hen on the ramp does look to be doing the classic hen head bob though. Listen to them close one day and see if they are vocally sounding like hens.

But color wise, going to say greens for now, the for sure male may be blue, he does look to be getting a paler back

 

[sianara]

Quote:
Ok, thanks. I'm going to catch and tag all three this weekend so I should be able to hear their voices pretty clear then. I will mention the other day the definite male was quacking and sounds just like father drake all raspy and quite. Also, the small female has the mother ducks quack and the only reason I heard it was because when I was gently "encouraging" them to go up the ramp for bedtime a few nights ago she ran off to the side while the others went up the ramp quietly. As soon as she saw she was alone and I was honing in to pick her up she did the loud quack and I thought "well, you're a girl, that's for sure!". Not surprisingly, the original "undecided" is the only one I've yet to hear (figures).

I'll report back after we've tagged them, thanks again Aubrey.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

no problem,

and from the bill color yep they should be hens, the extra white is just throwing me, was comparing them to mine of the similar age area, and none of the hens had the amount of white to them was all???

 

[sianara]

Well, if we're going by quack alone, it's two males and a female! The undecided is a male by quack alone. I caught them all and DH held them while I added the colored ziptie to each one and the little female was loud and not happy while the other two did the quiet raspy male quack so I guess that answers THAT question huh?