curly tail feathers?

[5fathens]

this is probably going to sound a little weird but I've read somewhere something about call duck tail feathers curling but can't for the life of me remember what it means....does anybody know?
is it something to do with girl or boy ducks?
as yet we are still waiting to see which ones lay eggs or start mating to tell what we have...

any ideas greatly appreciated
thanks

 

[dheltzel]

Drakes (males) have curled tail feathers, the ducks (females) remain straight.

 

[5fathens]

Drakes (males) have curled tail feathers, the ducks (females) remain straight.

thanks that's helpful although looks rather like I have a flock of boys....we were hoping for a girl majority at what age should it be obvious do you know?

 

[dheltzel]

I really don't know at what age when you can be certain a duck is female if the tail is straight. Maybe someone else can give some better answer.

 

[danegal2]

I bought my first Call ducks last year and I could tell by their feather markings and quack if they were boy or girls. The curly tail feather was the last visual confirmation that my duck was a drake. I also noticed that my biggest ducklings turned out to be boys and had thicker legs. I currently have 5 ducklings that are 24 to 26 days old and are just starting to feather out. I have one that is noticeably smaller with petite features like her mother was as a duckling.
How old are your Call ducklings? Mine are still too young to sex by their quack.

 

[emmyeagle]

Our drake got his curl at about 12 weeks old. Our female hhas the classic quack & drake sounds like he has a sore throat.

 

[5fathens]

Hi thanks,
i have just worked out that our quacker is now 15weeks old and the ones with a curl are 14weeks old and the last one with a straight tail is 13 weeks......is there any hope that the last one might just be a quieter girl....i just feel so sorry for our 1 girly if she is going to have 4 boys pestering her!

 

[5fathens]

I bought my first Call ducks last year and I could tell by their feather markings and quack if they were boy or girls. The curly tail feather was the last visual confirmation that my duck was a drake. I also noticed that my biggest ducklings turned out to be boys and had thicker legs. I currently have 5 ducklings that are 24 to 26 days old and are just starting to feather out. I have one that is noticeably smaller with petite features like her mother was as a duckling.
How old are your Call ducklings? Mine are still too young to sex by their quack.

our oldest is the loudest so we had thought prehaps it was a higherarchy age type thing, also we had thought we'd got at least 3 girls and maybe 1 or possibly 2 boys-oops! all ours are whilte so telling by markings is a bit tricky i guess....although some like to be dirtier than others