Boys or Girls?

[Cetawin]

I have 6 Golden Welsh Harlequins that will be 5 weeks old on Monday. From pictures of them at 1 and 2 days old, I thought I had three males (dark bills) and 3 females (lighter bills) but now I think I have 4 drakes and 2 girls.

The reason I believe is two-fold...

First: Two are audibly and loudly quacking and;

Second: the two that are quacking are visible different colored and patterned from the other four.

So here are some pics I took just a few minutes ago...

This is four of them..the two quacking girls are marked as girls the other two are questionably boys..notice the difference in the heads and the color markings on the backs?

A close up of a suspected drake

Profile of a second suspected drake

A close up of a quacking female

A quacking female floating in the tub practically on top of a suspected male

So..what are your thoughts? My guess is 4 drakes and 2 females... *sigh*

 

[TennesseeTruly]

I think you might be right hun. Rut roh. Sorry

Laurie

 

[KittyKelly]

I think you and I are guessing the same!

 

[Cetawin]

Yup that is what I thought. Oh well I am jumping in on a coop purchase thread here and am getting one...now it looks like maybe two extra coops. One can be a duckie bachelor pad for the extras...I do not want to butcher them and I am afraid selling them may get them butchered so I will try to keep them I guess. *sigh*

 

[TennesseeTruly]

I had the same thing happen to me. I went and bought two more females. LOL

Of course then someone told me that I needed 3 females for every one drake. My head is spinning. Right now each drake is getting ONE female. That's it. Sheesh!

Good luck hun. I absolutely adore your ducks!

Laurie

 

[Cetawin]

awww thanks I love em too.

I was told a good ratio is 1 drake to 3 - 4 hens but trios are good. I was hoping to get at least 3 females of each breed and looks like only 2 in the harlequins and 2 maybe three in the anconas.

But that is okay. I will build a bachelor pad for my extra males if I cannot find good BYC homes for the extras.

 

[CityChicker]

Almost all of my ducks are in pairs and trios. I usually have a couple of trios or pairs in the same pen or even have a few that are two drakes with three ducks. I have seen some breeders suggest keeping a larger number of ducks to drakes than what I do to prevent fighting, but I have never had any issues with aggression or fights. YMMV