Do I get Pickles a friend?

[Luv Ducks]

Thanks, I wish. I vent-sexed Pickles and was pretty sure I was seeing that he was a male. He now has the soft, hoarse, whisper boy voice. Noodles’ parents were a chocolate drake and a dusky hen, so he is sex-linked, black = male, brown = girl. So, unless Pickles miraculously starts quacking tomorrow, two drakes. It’s ok though. The breeder offered to trade with me if my genders were off I just have to drive 5 hours back to St. Louis. Or, I have a friend who also wants Hookbills. So, they can be friends for now.

You are most welcome. Sorry they seem to be drakes. I can surely see why you would not want to drive all the way back to St. Louis. Depending on how much they cost I guess it might be easier to rehome them. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Luv Ducks]

You are most welcome. Sorry they seem to be drakes. I can surely see why you would not want to drive all the way back to St. Louis. Depending on how much they cost I guess it might be easier to rehome them. Good luck with your decision.

Are these your only Hookbills? Hopefully the 5 eggs you hatch out will all be Hens. I always seem to get a lot of Mallard Drakes with my hatchings. They say it takes 10 weeks for them to get their adult voices so I am still waiting for mine. A couple of mine have the more girly heads but green bills which I always thought were drakes and also a light green sheen to their heads which makes me think drakes. Mine are going to be 9 weeks old this week and still no quacks but one is quite talkative so I am hoping for at least one Hen out of the three. Good luck with your eggs hatching Hens out.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Are these your only Hookbills? Hopefully the 5 eggs you hatch out will all be Hens. I always seem to get a lot of Mallard Drakes with my hatchings. They say it takes 10 weeks for them to get their adult voices so I am still waiting for mine. A couple of mine have the more girly heads but green bills which I always thought were drakes and also a light green sheen to their heads which makes me think drakes. Mine are going to be 9 weeks old this week and still no quacks but one is quite talkative so I am hoping for at least one Hen out of the three. Good luck with your eggs hatching Hens out.

These two are my only Hookbills but I have four other female ducks, an old Khaki, a Crested Silver Swedish, a Khaki Harlequin cross, and a Swedish Khaki cross. I want at least one female so I can hatch ducklings and help increase their numbers. I also figure it will be easier to get them homes (I hatch in my classroom ). I read that Hookbill drakes are much nicer to the girls. My past drakes (Khaki and Khaki Appleyard mixes) have not been, so it is worth a try. If I have to rehome one of them I will, but I should have a few months to see.

I would love to see a picture of your Mallards. How old are they? Are their rear ends all the same shape and color? Are their necks the same thickness? How about their legs, same color and brightness?

 

[Luv Ducks]

These two are my only Hookbills but I have four other female ducks, an old Khaki, a Crested Silver Swedish, a Khaki Harlequin cross, and a Swedish Khaki cross. I want at least one female so I can hatch ducklings and help increase their numbers. I also figure it will be easier to get them homes (I hatch in my classroom ). I read that Hookbill drakes are much nicer to the girls. My past drakes (Khaki and Khaki Appleyard mixes) have not been, so it is worth a try. If I have to rehome one of them I will, but I should have a few months to see.

I would love to see a picture of your Mallards. How old are they? Are their rear ends all the same shape and color? Are their necks the same thickness? How about their legs, same color and brightness?

Miss Lydia had to post the pictures on here as I can't figure out how to do it. She is my Godsend. They are under the post "8 Week Old Mallards, Sex Please." I don't know if you can find them or not. They are all much bigger than my female Mallards and they all do look the same. I have had one person think I had one female and two males and another thought I had two females and one male. One does have brighter legs it seems than the other two. They will be 9 week old this Thursday. Their necks all seem to be about the same and so do the thickness of the legs. Their heads have a light green sheen to them but it is hard to see even in the sunlight. They are not getting any green yet around their bills and my other males did last year but I can't remember how old they were. It sounds like you might be able to keep those two Hookbills even if they are boys if they are nice to the females. I had to rehome my huge Muscovy Drake, my Khaki Drake, my two Mule Duck Drakes and now I have 4 little Call Drakes and my one 3 year old Mallard/Rouen Drake. These Ducks came from the Mallard/Rouen Drake and I thought maybe they were bigger because they took more after Rouen Hen but I don't know. None of the rest of my Drakes appeared to be this big. Thanks for any input and sorry this is so long. I drive a school bus and it's been nice to have time to get on here for once but soon the wheels will be turning, lol.

 

[Miss Lydia]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/8-week-old-mallards-sex-please.1588998/#post-27003668

 

[Luv Ducks]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/8-week-old-mallards-sex-please.1588998/#post-27003668

Thank you my Dear.

 

[A boy with ducks]

Ok my wise friends, I need your advice. As some of you know, I had a bad hatch which resulted in a lone Hookbill duckling hatching. We named him/her Pickles. Pickles is 12 days old today and doing well. I started searching for another Hookbill duckling right after he hatched with little success. I finally may have found one. A lady has a dozen or so eggs due to hatch today or tomorrow. That will make them two almost weeks apart in age. It is a 1 1/2 hour drive to get the duckling. Is it a good idea?
View attachment 3556515

Definitely get her a friend at most stores like tractor supply and Orscheln’s. It is illegal to buy just one duck because ducks are so social definitely get her a friend

 

[A boy with ducks]

Ok my wise friends, I need your advice. As some of you know, I had a bad hatch which resulted in a lone Hookbill duckling hatching. We named him/her Pickles. Pickles is 12 days old today and doing well. I started searching for another Hookbill duckling right after he hatched with little success. I finally may have found one. A lady has a dozen or so eggs due to hatch today or tomorrow. That will make them two almost weeks apart in age. It is a 1 1/2 hour drive to get the duckling. Is it a good idea?
View attachment 3556515

Ope sorry didn’t see that you got one already

 

[Luv Ducks]

These two are my only Hookbills but I have four other female ducks, an old Khaki, a Crested Silver Swedish, a Khaki Harlequin cross, and a Swedish Khaki cross. I want at least one female so I can hatch ducklings and help increase their numbers. I also figure it will be easier to get them homes (I hatch in my classroom ). I read that Hookbill drakes are much nicer to the girls. My past drakes (Khaki and Khaki Appleyard mixes) have not been, so it is worth a try. If I have to rehome one of them I will, but I should have a few months to see.

I would love to see a picture of your Mallards. How old are they? Are their rear ends all the same shape and color? Are their necks the same thickness? How about their legs, same color and brightness?

Miss Lydia just posted the pictures again after this post Bless Her Heart. I was just out caring for them and boy do they ever all look alike except for one has a belly that has been turning whitish and also the bill on it is more yellow than the other two. They all have about the same color feet though and the necks all seemed to be about the same. The one's belly has been changing color for about two weeks now and the other two's are staying the same. With the belly on them being such a darker chestnut color I figured they were all the same sex, probably boys but not sure why one's belly would be changing to the grayish whitish color and the other two staying the same.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Its hard to explain how to do this but you pick a duck, and hold it out in front of you with both hands, then raise and lower it (up down up down) not super slow but not too fast either... kind of like if you were playing with a human baby... it makes them quack. if they are girls. they will quack!
my daugher and I did this with our ten unsexed khakis several years ago, and found out we had 7 drakes