How old?

[Goat_Walker]

At what age can I tell the sex of my duckling?
I have a mallard/buff orp cross duckling, approximately 7 weeks old, I cant think of the date she hatched exactly.

She/he looks like the father( mallard) did when he was young.
Has almost all feathers, but no flight feathers and a little bit of fuz left.

All advice appriciated

 

[eggchel]

I have a mallard/buff orp cross duckling,

Im a little concerned that your mallard ducks are crossing with your buff orp chickens. Did you mean Buff duck?

As soon as s/he stops peeping and starts quacking you should be able to tell the sharp loud female quack from the soft raspy male quack.


Later, if it is a drake, it will develop a curled "drake feather" on top of his tail.

Since it is a cross, you wont know right away if it is going to develop the full mallard color pattern or something in between. Young males usually look like the females until they get their mature plumage. Then, every time they molt, they look like the females for a while. However, if you look closely, you will see slight color differences on the head and neck.

Chel​

 

[Goat_Walker]

Yes, lol, I she is a buff duck, ( I was told she was a buff orp duck?)

I know about the drake feather but it is still too young for that and i was interested in any other way i could tell.

Well Im hoping the quack changes then or that im hearing it wrong

I already have two males and thats pushing it. There is no way i can do 3 males and one female.

Thanks!

 

[eggchel]

LOL, yes, they are called Buff Orpington ducks in Great Britain. Here in the U.S. they are just called Buff Ducks. That was just too funny a picture in my head.

www.metzerfarms.com

They hatch Buff Ducks through October so you might still be able to get some females shipped to you now.

I think their minimum is 10 ducklings, but the important thing is that for an extra fee ($1.25 each), they will sex the ducks and send just females!!


Chel

 

[Goat_Walker]

Quote:
Thats ounds awesome! But unfortunately my lil female "buff duck" is sitting on 15 eggs, so ill just see what I get out of that and how the ratio evens out