Barbe a cayuga hen?

[Andrea PNW]

Ok - last one to sex. I thought Barbe and Ed were both drakes but now I'm thinking Barbe might be a lady. Barbe is a little smaller, a little less green and is now starting to sound a wee bit different.

Can y'all take a look at these 3vids I just took for the definitive answer?

They are Barbe v1 thru v3...

Thank you thank you!!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjFSiA5xwIM8gF0wyGYEvIQ

 

[sourland]

In video 1 I hear a duck, but don't know whether it is from either of the cayugas. In the other two videos I just hear drake sounds, and to me the bill color on both leans 'drake'.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

drakes

 

[KaleIAm]

My cayuga hen looked like that and quacked much later than my khaki campbell hen did. That was my only experience with young ducks and gender though and it was five years ago! You might have to be patient to know for sure.

Are you curious or planning ahead for spring ratios?

 

[Andrea PNW]

My cayuga hen looked like that and quacked much later than my khaki campbell hen did. That was my only experience with young ducks and gender though and it was five years ago! You might have to be patient to know for sure.

Are you curious or planning ahead for spring ratios?

I need to know because I'm fearful of the two-on-one rapey action and any harm that might come in t-minus 8wks if indeed Barbe is a hen. I'm keeping ducks as pets so eggs are a plus but not an imperative. I'm not planning on a big flock - 3 is ideal but 5 max. I'm attached to all three but if Barbe's a hen then I imagine it will be much easier for me to re-home her and that makes me feel better. I haven't tried to re-home ducks before so the prospect of Barbe also being a drake (so I could have a priesthood of monk ducks lol) would be best.

 

[KaleIAm]

I need to know because I'm fearful of the two-on-one rapey action and any harm that might come in t-minus 8wks if indeed Barbe is a hen. I'm keeping ducks as pets so eggs are a plus but not an imperative. I'm not planning on a big flock - 3 is ideal but 5 max. I'm attached to all three but if Barbe's a hen then I imagine it will be much easier for me to re-home her and that makes me feel better. I haven't tried to re-home ducks before so the prospect of Barbe also being a drake (so I could have a priesthood of monk ducks lol) would be best.

I completely understand.

 

[Andrea PNW]

I completely understand.

And I'm not entirely sure when it will start. At night in their house or all the time during the day I won't always have my eye on them so I'm afraid that I won't know it's happening until there are actual physical marks. I know I shouldn't project my own human feelings on duck behavior but if it's just as simple as confirming Barbe's sex - and we all know what will happen if Barbe is a lady - then I gotta get her out of here quickly. For my own peace of mind.

Annnnnnd I shouldn't of named my ducks after my dead grandparents. That also might have something to do with it

 

[KaleIAm]

And I'm not entirely sure when it will start. At night in their house or all the time during the day I won't always have my eye on them so I'm afraid that I won't know it's happening until there are actual physical marks. I know I shouldn't project my own human feelings on duck behavior but if it's just as simple as confirming Barbe's sex - and we all know what will happen if Barbe is a lady - then I gotta get her out of here quickly. For my own peace of mind.

Annnnnnd I shouldn't of named my ducks after my dead grandparents. That also might have something to do with it

Lol about the names. Yeah, that's probably not helping.

But I'm the same about mating, I have an all female flock to avoid the non consensual mating. And my ducks are all named after plants. But they are my precious pets and the thought of them being mated repeatedly when they don't want to is completely unacceptable to me.

My female ducks do mate together, willingly, but always in water or near water, like when I give them a new bucket of fresh water. I don't know, but I assume drakes are similar about the water thing and that you will notice mating activity mostly in or near water. I believe that is why waterfowl have a penis and other birds do not.

Hopefully my cayuga being a late quacker was an unusual event. Those were the only ducklings I raised, so I'm really not experienced in that area. One she started quacking though she never shut up. Our neighbors could hear her, "swearing," from a mile away!!