How soon can my Ducks mate?

[Corbdee]

Hey guys. This isn’t kinda just a random small question but I was just wondering how old my ducks can be for them to start mating. My most recent hatch gave me one Pekin, and one Rouen. The Rouen is officially 1 week old today, and she’s already huge. I tried vent sexing them both but I had absolutely no idea all the details of how to do it...I just put them belly up and gently pressed 3 fingers on her belly and nothing happened. First of all How old will they need to be before they mature so I can tell by the tail feathers whether it’s a drake or not, and second, how old until they can mate? I know those breeds don’t typically go broody but I have a few others separated that are also their age.

 

[nchls school]

Hey guys. This isn’t kinda just a random small question but I was just wondering how old my ducks can be for them to start mating. My most recent hatch gave me one Pekin, and one Rouen. The Rouen is officially 1 week old today, and she’s already huge. I tried vent sexing them both but I had absolutely no idea all the details of how to do it...I just put them belly up and gently pressed 3 fingers on her belly and nothing happened. First of all How old will they need to be before they mature so I can tell by the tail feathers whether it’s a drake or not, and second, how old until they can mate? I know those breeds don’t typically go broody but I have a few others separated that are also their age.

My Call ducks started mating at 14 weeks and they are now, today, 16 weeks old. I've read that they could start laying eggs soon; most, I guess, start to lay around twenty weeks.

Voice sexing is better than waiting for the tail... Hens are loud and quack-drakes are much softer spoken and their "quack" is a raspy-hiss. We tried vent sexing. Some were obvious, but a couple we thought to be hens are drakes.

So, if you notice your duckling getting loud; it's a hen. If the duckling gets quieter-it's a drake. By time they're a month old sex will be obvious by how they sound. Just pick one up-loud, it's female...

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

My Call ducks started mating at 14 weeks and they are now, today, 16 weeks old. I've read that they could start laying eggs soon; most, I guess, start to lay around twenty weeks.

Voice sexing is better than waiting for the tail... Hens are loud and quack-drakes are much softer spoken and their "quack" is a raspy-hiss. We tried vent sexing. Some were obvious, but a couple we thought to be hens are drakes.

So, if you notice your duckling getting loud; it's a hen. If the duckling gets quieter-it's a drake. By time they're a month old sex will be obvious by how they sound. Just pick one up-loud, it's female...

I have call ducks as well. Mine are 4 1/2 months old and they just started laying a while ago. I noticed they started mating around 3 months old. Squeegee, one of the females, is broody at only 4 1/2 months old and has been sitting on her nest for 1 week. She made the nest in my neighbors burn pile and sits all day then returns at night.

 

[nchls school]

You will find that most domestic breeds have a lot in common as they have the same, mallard, ancestor. Muscovies are a totally different specie. If your call hen isn't brooding at night the eggs won't hatch. Is it possible she hasn't stopped laying quite yet and isn't fully broody?

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

i wouldn’t vent sex them unless you are 100% sure you can do it correctly, since it could possibly injure them. as far as mating, one of my girls started laying flat for our drake when she was 9 weeks, and our boy started trying at like 10 weeks. but it took a couple of week before he actually could do it. our other girl still runs from him when he tries, even though she is the same age as him.

 

[FunnyfarmMidwest]

You will find that most domestic breeds have a lot in common as they have the same, mallard, ancestor. Muscovies are a totally different specie. If your call hen isn't brooding at night the eggs won't hatch. Is it possible she hasn't stopped laying quite yet and isn't fully broody?

This is quite possible, as she only has a couple eggs in her nest as of now. She might be adding more eggs still. She does come back at night and go with the others. I’m thinking about moving the eggs in to the call house. She and my other call hen have been taking turns sitting on the nest and Cam (my other hen) and Squeegee sit together on the nest with Splash (the alpha male) guarding.