Gender of 3-month-old Muscovies?

[9gerianMile]

Hi all, I hatched these babies out on August 9th. Wondering what gender they are? Clearly they are either both female or both male since they are the same size still... it just makes it hard for me to tell which exactly. They are about the same size as their mom now.

Babies:




Parents:


Any opinions either way? Thanks!

 

[NativeBeauty]

I am leaning toward females, however I sex them at an early age by comparison of feet size and diameter of the leg and the size of their heads...girls just look more petite

 

[9gerianMile]

Oh interesting! do you have a link to the info for that sexing method? Thanks for your input, I'm leaning towards girls, too

 

[jdywntr]

They look girlish to me. By this age they will be almost full grown and as long as they aren't bigger than mom, they are most likely girls. Your drake is VERY handsome.

There are lots of threads on sexing muscovy. Typically it is much easier to tell sex from ducklings from the same hatch. Males get bigger more quickly, have bigger feet and thicker, longer legs. I forget the specifics but there is usually a noticable difference in size by 3 weeks old. It is very hard to tell from pictures though. I think by about 3 months the females just look more feminine.

 

[9gerianMile]

Thanks We love Goose (drake). I only have 2 ducklings from the clutch. Only 3 hatched (it was a bad nest location- went 2 weeks over the 35 days) and one got taken by an eagle, so just the two remain. It would've been easier if I had one of each- then I'd know for sure

 

[Susanjoans]

What kinds of sounds do they make?
I have 1 male and 1 female, about the same age as yours - I know their gender because one is twice as big!
Anyway, my drake quit doing the little peeping sound, and hisses now, while my duck still peeps.
I've read (somewhere!) that this is common.

 

[9gerianMile]

They don't make noise unless they are stressed, and I haven't chased them around in a while. I'll try tomorrow. Is your boy bigger than his mom? Because these two are slightly smaller than Ducky, and Goose is about twice as large as Ducky.

 

[Going Quackers]

Those look like girls, if they are the size of mum at 3mths doubtful they'd be boys, as they start to exceed their mamas pretty quick... For the sake of reference, my last hatch had 9 babies, 8 drakes, 1 duck.

 

[9gerianMile]

Thanks Sorry you pulled so many drakes! Did you eat them?

 

[petjem]

I'd say girls too. My drake is almost 16 weeks old and his flight feathers are still coming in and his legs are much taller than the ducks in the pics. On the other hand my duck is already flying. I see yours have almost fully developed flight feathers so I'm leaning towards ducks both of them.