colors of muscovies

lesander

In the Brooder
6 Years
Hi there we are new to raising muscovies and am picking ours up soon. We've watched them grow since a day old til now, 5 1/2 weeks, their colors have changed considerably. Are they still going to change drastically more? We also thing we have figured out which are 4 males and 9 females if anyone could tell by the pics that would be great to! Thnx
 
Hi there we are new to raising muscovies and am picking ours up soon. We've watched them grow since a day old til now, 5 1/2 weeks, their colors have changed considerably. Are they still going to change drastically more? We also thing we have figured out which are 4 males and 9 females if anyone could tell by the pics that would be great to! Thnx
Where's the pics?
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They will likely get darker in color. Usually any barring fills in as they age. My males tend to get more solid than females. That big guy in the front with the white chest will likely keep some white coloring.

In the pic, its hard to tell gender due to the perspective, everyone in the front looks huge but they may or may not be in reality. You will be able to see a real difference in size at this age. The smaller are female, the larger male.

If you are thinking of keeping some for breeding, decide where you want to go with color but only if it is important to you. I started with 3 female chocolate barred, 1 female black barred and a black barred drake. With these, I was able to get some black barred drakelings that throw chocolate. Right now, out of 3 third generation hatches, consisting of 44 ducklings, I have 3 that are chocolate.
 
Thnx for the help, we picked our 2 out we got a nice chocolate brown/white, and a darker one with lots of white. Their mom was white and dad was a huge tri color with tons of blue and green. Were 99% sure they are female a lot smaller than some of them, they make the same noises (calling for their momma :( ) and both have a gland above their tail feathers that their mom did, she was pure white so it was very noticable, the dad didn't seem to have one-correct me if I'm wrong. ....already attached to them, so entertaining to watch! Here's hoping their both girls.
 
Thnx for the help, we picked our 2 out we got a nice chocolate brown/white, and a darker one with lots of white. Their mom was white and dad was a huge tri color with tons of blue and green. Were 99% sure they are female a lot smaller than some of them, they make the same noises (calling for their momma
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) and both have a gland above their tail feathers that their mom did, she was pure white so it was very noticable, the dad didn't seem to have one-correct me if I'm wrong. ....already attached to them, so entertaining to watch! Here's hoping their both girls.
all ducks have oil gland on lower back above tail, that's how they keep their feathers nice and water proof. probably just couldn't see it on papa.
 
Thats what we thought, the guy we got them didnt know anything about ducks, just ended up with mom and pop, was told their eggs never hatch so they got them. Most of the reading I've done didn't really mention the oil gland for some reason.
 
Thats what we thought, the guy we got them didnt know anything about ducks, just ended up with mom and pop, was told their eggs never hatch so they got them. Most of the reading I've done didn't really mention the oil gland for some reason.
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don't know why they wouldn't since all poultry have one, even our chickens but not like the waterfowl. enjoy those babies.
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Colours are a funny one with scovies... i know some who are trying to only breed solids. A rather difficult task with the tendency towards white in the breed and white heads. Anyways, i can show what my March Clutch did...

As little ones For reference for sexing, the one to the far left is the only duck the rest are drakes, you'll notice it's size, legs, feet, overall that rule who is who.



later on, this clutch turned out mostly blue.

 
You will find that they will change color until the get their adult feathers. Then those feathers will fade in the sun until they molt again. But the adult feathers show their "true" color.
You have black pieds and chocolate pieds. The white specks on the chest is not considered barring though. Some of it will go away as they grow new feathers, some will keep it. And the black ducks then to look "green" as most black muscovies have a green/sometimes purple shine to them.
 

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