Duck Voice Difference

[KylieMarie]

So today I tried voice sexing with my ducks today. According to what I've heard I have 3 Drakes and 1 Duck. So, how reliable is voice sexing in your experience? I'm curious because my two that have no curly feathers on their tales sound exactly like my drake who defiantly has curled feathers. Thank you for all of the help.

 

[Amiga]

It can take several months for the curly tail to show up. You are protecting the female, yes? Once the mating hormones kick in, her life could be in danger.

Since I don't know who knows this and who doesn't, I need to be sure to share the information.

 

[Orca5094]

So today I tried voice sexing with my ducks today. According to what I've heard I have 3 Drakes and 1 Duck. So, how reliable is voice sexing in your experience? I'm curious because my two that have no curly feathers on their tales sound exactly like my drake who defiantly has curled feathers. Thank you for all of the help.

How old are the two who don't have the curly drake feathers? They usually show up when they are about 6 months old and have gotten in their full adult breeding plumage. They will also drop their drake feathers when they moult and go into non-breeding plumage each year. So, drakes won't have drake feathers 100% of the time. If they have the whispery drake voice, they are absolutely a male.

 

[KylieMarie]

They will be a year old in about 3 weeks. The three of them most definitely have raspy whispery voices. The female is treated like a queen even by the drakes, she's a little too pampered to be honest. Thanks for all of the help!

 

[Orca5094]

They will be a year old in about 3 weeks. The three of them most definitely have raspy whispery voices. The female is treated like a queen even by the drakes, she's a little too pampered to be honest. Thanks for all of the help!

What breed of ducks are they? Are any Muscovies? Muscovies do not get drake feathers, but all other breeds should have them at some point during the year. Can you post a pic?

Glad to hear they treat your female well, just keep a close eye on her to be sure things don't change. Drake behavior changes throughout the year. If you see your female ever missing feathers on the back of her head/neck, she is being over-bred and needs to be separated from the males.

 

[RandomePerson]

Voice sexing is very successful. A few months ago I bought the last 2 ducks from a feed store ( never do this if you want pure breed ducks ) and to my surprise one was a pekin that actually looked like a pekin instead of a white mixed breed when he got older and the other was a fawn and white Indian runner that looked like a fairly good Indian runner. I've seen some Indian runners that have the same body shape as a pekin but this one stood very upright. I didn't know that it was a runner as I bought them when they were still all yellow but after a few days you could tell the runner stood very upright compared to the Pekin. When they first started to get adult feathers the runners " peep " turned into a " quack " and the Pekins remained a peep but later turned into a very raspy peep like batman saying peep. The runner is a female and the pekin is a male just like the voice sexing said they would be. It almost always works and the calls are very distinct so you should have no problem telling them apart.

 

[KylieMarie]

No, none are Muscovies, all four of them are Fawn and White Runner Ducks. I tried to take pictures of them today, but they don't go anywhere without the other three and when I did get one separate he threw quite the fit and all of the pictures turned out blurry. I'm think their feathers might just come in later then normal.