Cayuga Duck Owners, I Need Your Help!

[Finny]

I have a cayuga and i am not sure if he is a boy or a girl. What do your girls sound like? Do they quack loudly rarely or frequently. Every thing about my duck hints its a girl besides for his voice. He sounds like all my other drakes but i hear that female cayugas rarely quack loudly.

 

[my sunwolf]

I find that they don't quack more loudly, only more frequently, but that may just be my cayugas. But, when sexing ducks, voice is the #1 trait to go on when they are young. How old is your duck? You could always plan to wait until they're old enough for the tail feathers to curl up on the drakes.

 

[Finny]

He is 17 and a half weeks old and all my other drakes that age have their curled tail feathers, but this one does not

 

[ducksinarow]

My head drake a KC only developed tail feathers when it turned 3 years old. He has always been head drake. Go by voice sexing rather than tail feather only.

 

[Finny]

So HeartMoss Farm, you said your girls dont quack louder. Does that mean they sound almost like a drake?

 

[EggsBeesSeeds]

My cayuga ducks quack all the time, just a constant quiet quack chatter. They're actually quite vocal. They just don't do the loud, "pay attention to me I'm hungry/angry/want something" quack all that often. My drake is constantly chattering with his low, grumbly drake voice. The quiet quack chatter my ducks do does NOT sound like a drake. I've never had a duck sound like a drake, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Just keep listening to his/her voice. It really is the only way to tell. Patience is a poultry keepers best friend.

PS: don't rely on "mounting" behavior! I was so confused the first time I saw all of my ducks mounting each other! I questioned everyones sex/gender when I first witnessed this. They do this as a flock dynamic thing, not just for mating, so females mount females all the time.

 

[Finny]

Ok thanks

 

[EggsnQuackers]

We've got cayugas. They are at least as loud as the Appleyards. The drake has a raspy drake-like voice and the females have the loud, clear, "QUACK". If the drake feather is only thing that is missing to confirm your bird is a drake then it's probably a drake. The feather will come in eventually but probably not until he's older.