Duck/Drake question

[corriemartin]

So...back when my ducks were eight weeks old, we caught them all one by one, and listened to their voices. Eight of them were definitely quacking, and two of them sounded like little tree frogs. So we thought, "Wow, we're lucky to have ended up with only two drakes." However, now at twelve weeks, one of those ducks is biting the back of other ducks' necks, holding them under water, and climbing on top of them, which seems much more of a drake activity. I can't tell which one it is (because there's usually a whole bunch of them all in the duck pool at once), but does it sound like we have more drakes than just those two? Can their voices be deceptive at eight weeks? The two we initially identified as drakes are larger than the rest, and their voices are clearly different. Do we need to re-catch them, and listen to their voices again? I think we could have two drakes and eight ducks, but I don't think we can have three or four drakes....

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

if you can send an individual video of every duck, we can tell you all the genders. you can definitely tell at 8 weeks.

 

[nao57]

Well the thing is...

With my ducks the girls will mount the other girls and each other. Some of them do it to possibly show the boys how its done, I don't know. The girl I have that does this is very clearly a girl, and I have seen the drake mount her also. So I'm just saying,...expect the unexpected with ducks.

Ducks are kind of weird like that.

I trust the voices more than who is mounting who. But I'm still not an expert.

 

[corriemartin]

if you can send an individual video of every duck, we can tell you all the genders. you can definitely tell at 8 weeks.

I didn't take videos of each one, but I did photograph each one and note the quackers. And there were definitely eight quackers. The two that weren't quacking then are the ones who still have raspy little froggy voices. But do females act like that--biting necks and mounting other ducks in the water????

 

[corriemartin]

Well the thing is...

With my ducks the girls will mount the other girls and each other. Some of them do it to possibly show the boys how its done, I don't know. The girl I have that does this is very clearly a girl, and I have seen the drake mount her also. So I'm just saying,...expect the unexpected with ducks.

Ducks are kind of weird like that.

I trust the voices more than who is mounting who. But I'm still not an expert.

I think we'll have to catch them all again. It's so traumatic for them, though. Interesting, though, about the behaviors. They've ALL gotten a whole lot more aggressive this past week.

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

I didn't take videos of each one, but I did photograph each one and note the quackers. And there were definitely eight quackers. The two that weren't quacking then are the ones who still have raspy little froggy voices. But do females act like that--biting necks and mounting other ducks in the water????

My runners do, and I get an egg from each one of them, I tried talking to them about it, I don’t think it sunk in.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

i’ve seen my girls mount each other and my girl even mount my drake

 

[corriemartin]

Well, I caught one of the suspected offending members of the flock, and boy, what a silent duck. I had to carry her a LONG way away from the other nine to get any sound out of her at all. She had some squeaks, but then a few quiets quacks, not at all what the two drakes are doing. Some of those ducks make an absolute racket, and even the drakes are vocalizing constantly.