How do you sex your ducks?

[TJAnonymous]

About 8 or 9 weeks ago, my husband got two baby ducklings from TSC. Now they are big but I have no idea what breed or sex they are... How do you figure that out?

 

[sourland]

They should be old enough for voice sexing. Hens will quack loudly, and drakes will have a hoarse raspy voice.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Hmmm, is there a wav file or something that I can listen to get some idea? Mine "chatter" to me at feeding time but I couldn't tell you if it is one way or another...

What about breeds? How do you tell what breed they are?

 

[Quail_r_fun]

They look like Pekins to me. Really the only breeds that they sell at my TSC are Pekins and Khaki Campbells.

 

[Isaac 0]

About 8 or 9 weeks ago, my husband got two baby ducklings from TSC. Now they are big but I have no idea what breed or sex they are... How do you figure that out?

Males sound like a bad smoker, females quack. I see a Pekin and White layer, the WH has the pink bill, Pekins usually have orange.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Thanks! I'm assuming then that both are girls since they actually have a quack...

I know a lot about chickens but essentially nothing about ducks. We put a duck house out on the pond bank but they don't use it. They sleep on the bank instead... This doesn't particularly bother me because the pond is close to the house so I don't think too many critters will bother them. At least I hope not... I'm more worried about what to do with them in the winter time if they won't use the house? Or are they better about seeking shelter in the winter?

Thanks

 

[DuckyDonna]

Those ducks are beautiful but if you don't secure them at night they are going to be literally "sitting ducks" for an owl, hawk, fox, coyote etc. to pick off. Do you have snapping turtles in that pond? Otters? Raccoons?

The same things that will eat your chickens will eat these and they can't fly away. They need a duck house that you can lock up at night that is predator proof.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Do you think they would be more likely to use a floating duck house?

I can't get close enough to them to catch them so locking them up at night is not likely...

My pond is very close to my house. There's also a utility light out there so it is very well lit at night. The pond isn't huge... Maybe an eighth to a quarter of an acre... There is a grove of trees on the far side of the pond and I have seen raccoon tracks back there at least once so I realize the dangers are real. I just don't know how to catch them to pen them in?

 

[TJAnonymous]

Those ducks are beautiful but if you don't secure them at night they are going to be literally "sitting ducks" for an owl, hawk, fox, coyote etc. to pick off. Do you have snapping turtles in that pond? Otters? Raccoons?

The same things that will eat your chickens will eat these and they can't fly away. They need a duck house that you can lock up at night that is predator proof.

Forgot to add, no otters or anything like that. We do have turtles but mostly red earred sliders. No large snappers that I've seen. The ducks have been outside for several weeks now and haven't been bothered by the turtles that I've seen. My ducks seem much larger than any of the turtles I've seen sunbathing around the pond. My husband has also been trying to hunt for turtles with traps and has only caught small ones

 

[Bert96746]

My ducks rarely use their house and they were free range for the 1st year of their lives. They preferred sleeping smack dab in the middle of my back yard, along my grape vines or taking refuge under our jetskis. I live in Michigan and they had no issue sleeping in a snow bank, even tho they had a perfectly warm house they could go to. Ducks are just weird lol I have a video of them standing in the middle of my yard staring a rain/hail storm in the face no matter how hard I tried to herd them to shelter, they would just run around me and go running into the wind.