motleycrewRus
In the Brooder
- Jun 15, 2016
- 5
- 1
- 11
Hello,
I am brand new to this site. After finding it to be a valuable resource and info gathering, I decided to join up!
I am new to raising ducks and chickens but not new to raising animals. I have hand-raised the ducklings and chicks to their current ages-which is about 3 months. We have 5 White Pekins which have grown rather large now. We have 4 Guinea Hens. 12 Chickens and 12 Ducks( combination of Pekins, Blue Swedish and Chocolate Indian Runners).
My significant other is great with repurposing building materials and we converted a hay storage unit into a hen/duck house and using recycled pallets into a large backyard area complete with a large pool my kids used to use(grown up now).
My question is this...at 3 months of age, none of my Pekins have drake feathers. The hatchery told me this was an unreliable way to test the sex as well as the color of their bills(2 have peach-colored bills and 3 have dark yellow). The voice thing is the most reliable but as new raiser of fowl...it is somewhat hard to tell. Originally, I believed my smallest one who is loud and bossy...herds and defends the 5 of them was a male...due to the "guarding" I have seen it do on a daily basis. Waits to eat last and herds/defends the other 4. The smallest one has a loud quack...almost like a honk of a goose!
The other 4 are quite large and quieter with a softer quack, quack, quack. Some some hoarse. Some just sound like a quieter version of her. They stick closely together...have heard males can bond and stick together.
At this point, I am not quite sure sex of my ducks. They all seem big enough to tell from size-but no drake feathers.
If I go by the quacking, I would say only 1 has a very loud quack and the other 4 are more subdued. If startled, however, 1 other makes a louder quack but not nearly as loud as the one I had mentioned!
So as far as I can tell, I must be wrong. The one who always laid back and let others eat first while defending the others(letting nothing come near) that I assumed could be a male based on behavior MUST be a female due to the loud quack I hear from it.
The 4 others I thought were females are larger and quieter. Some sound hoarse or raspy, others just have a quiet quack-quack.
I got them together at the same time(a few days old) and all should be the same ages(3 months now).
I also got 3 Blue Swedish ducklings from a hatchery that guarantees all will be ducks/hens. But one is raspy as well and the other 2 are loud quackers. So I may have a drake there, too.
How can you tell for sure? Seems everyone has an opinion as to bill color, plumage and voice differences. But with a large brace, even as I separated them individually, they all tended to get quiet being held or separated as they are hand-raised and pretty tame.
Only 1 lets out an ear-piercing "honk" out of the 5 Pekins.
Thanks for any and all feedback!
I am brand new to this site. After finding it to be a valuable resource and info gathering, I decided to join up!
I am new to raising ducks and chickens but not new to raising animals. I have hand-raised the ducklings and chicks to their current ages-which is about 3 months. We have 5 White Pekins which have grown rather large now. We have 4 Guinea Hens. 12 Chickens and 12 Ducks( combination of Pekins, Blue Swedish and Chocolate Indian Runners).
My significant other is great with repurposing building materials and we converted a hay storage unit into a hen/duck house and using recycled pallets into a large backyard area complete with a large pool my kids used to use(grown up now).
My question is this...at 3 months of age, none of my Pekins have drake feathers. The hatchery told me this was an unreliable way to test the sex as well as the color of their bills(2 have peach-colored bills and 3 have dark yellow). The voice thing is the most reliable but as new raiser of fowl...it is somewhat hard to tell. Originally, I believed my smallest one who is loud and bossy...herds and defends the 5 of them was a male...due to the "guarding" I have seen it do on a daily basis. Waits to eat last and herds/defends the other 4. The smallest one has a loud quack...almost like a honk of a goose!
The other 4 are quite large and quieter with a softer quack, quack, quack. Some some hoarse. Some just sound like a quieter version of her. They stick closely together...have heard males can bond and stick together.
At this point, I am not quite sure sex of my ducks. They all seem big enough to tell from size-but no drake feathers.
If I go by the quacking, I would say only 1 has a very loud quack and the other 4 are more subdued. If startled, however, 1 other makes a louder quack but not nearly as loud as the one I had mentioned!
So as far as I can tell, I must be wrong. The one who always laid back and let others eat first while defending the others(letting nothing come near) that I assumed could be a male based on behavior MUST be a female due to the loud quack I hear from it.
The 4 others I thought were females are larger and quieter. Some sound hoarse or raspy, others just have a quiet quack-quack.
I got them together at the same time(a few days old) and all should be the same ages(3 months now).
I also got 3 Blue Swedish ducklings from a hatchery that guarantees all will be ducks/hens. But one is raspy as well and the other 2 are loud quackers. So I may have a drake there, too.
How can you tell for sure? Seems everyone has an opinion as to bill color, plumage and voice differences. But with a large brace, even as I separated them individually, they all tended to get quiet being held or separated as they are hand-raised and pretty tame.
Only 1 lets out an ear-piercing "honk" out of the 5 Pekins.
Thanks for any and all feedback!
