Bad Duck Luck?

[DellaMyDarling]

Did I get four boys again?!

These are Welsh Harlequin. 6 weeks old.
Except...have you ever seen one go SO gold like that one?


Any tips or tricks to sexing some Ancona ducks? They're about 11 weeks now, no drake curls yet. Anything I can watch for?

Man I'm awful at this.

 

[Trimurtisan]

Did I get four boys again?!

These are Welsh Harlequin. 6 weeks old.
Except...have you ever seen one go SO gold like that one?


Any tips or tricks to sexing some Ancona ducks? They're about 11 weeks now, no drake curls yet. Anything I can watch for?

Man I'm awful at this.

Your picture did not load @DellaMyDarling

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Should be fixed now!

 

[Trimurtisan]

Any tips or tricks to sexing some Ancona ducks? They're about 11 weeks now, no drake curls yet. Anything I can watch for?

You should be able to sex them by sound at this age. I have 7 Ancona younger than yours that are already quacking.

The females have a much louder quack, while the males have a more raspy/ gusty sound. A lot of people say the males sound like frogs.

 

[Trimurtisan]

Should be fixed now!

They are very adorable.
Without drake feathers, I'd be no help with pictures. Sorry.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

You should be able to sex them by sound at this age. I have 7 Ancona younger than yours that are already quacking.

The females have a much louder quack, while the males have a more raspy/ gusty sound. A lot of people say the males sound like frogs.

Everything sounds the same to me

 

[Trimurtisan]

Well, the best way I can describe a group of females vs males, is I can't hear someone talking to me when the ladies are going quack'tastical. They are much much louder than the males. My neighbor 5 houses down can hear my Pekin females. You could barley hear the males from the other side of the yards. It's quite the difference.

The first one in the video is a drake, and the second is a duck.

If you can load a video to youtube and then post it here it would make it a bit easier to help.

Are you able to pick them up. That way you would be able to get their quacker close you you. It would help decipher the difference between the individual birds.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Eh, see all the young ones sound the same to me between both groups.
Being still immature, the Anconas may not have such a distinct call yet?

Gold duck looks like it's getting the drake "ring" around neck. That one seems a bit obvious to me. Otherwise the young group still sounds the same as each other.

I can pick any of them up, to their dismay.

 

[Trimurtisan]

Hmm, well the only other thing I could suggest is just giving them a bit more time. Let their sounds develop a bit more.

Is the "drake ring" something specific to Welsh Harlequin? I'm not familiar with an rings, or Welsh Harlequin.

 

[ibarbidahl]

Looks like all girls to me.... The males tend to get a ring around their bill at this age that indicates the breeding plumage/hood that will darken with age. Also their bills start to go green as well. I don't see that with any of them, except *maybe* the furthest back.