Baby Ducks meet the Chickens

[fasbendera]

I took the two ducklings,now about 7 weeks old for a walk out to the coop today (got a week ago and they are Pekins and they are almost the same size as my standard chickens but just starting to get feathers). We stopped at a puddly by the driveway and then we walked in a line to the coop. I had to coax/herd them into the coop. The girls really started talking. My RR hen made some advances but nothing serious and then pumpkin my Chochin, Pumpkin, charged one of the ducklings. The first charge was met with surprise by the ducks. The second charge was met head on and the hen backed down. Pumpkin may be hiding since she ran from the youngster but I was pretty happy the ducklings let them know we won't be bossed around.

Is that any indication of one being a girl or boy since their are two of them one is smaller, stature and foot size it just makes me wonder and I am chomping at the bit to name these two and figure out if I have at least one girl.

 

[duckyfromoz]

By 7 weeks old you may be able to tell by their voices. Girls have the loader "QUACK" - while the boys have a raspy "wark wark " I usually pick mine up for a while, try to get them talking while I check them over and once they have quacked or Warked... let them be on their way again... Otherwise trying to decifer who is making what noise can be a little confusing in a larger group.

I have found that sometimes my females are more bold than my males, and sometimes there is a size difference- but not always- they grow so fast its usually not until they are fully grown that I would pick one as being a female just based in its size.

 

[fasbendera]

I am seriously duck challenged. While I grew up on a hobby farm we did mostly peacocks, pheasants, chickens and turkeys. We had a few geese and maybe a duck or two along the way. We never had Pekins. Is the male or female larger?

 

[duckyfromoz]

I usually find my adult drakes fully grown are larger than my ducks fully grown... But pekins are all so big- and I usually sell mine young before they have fully matured.