I only have 3 male ducks, and I have an egg

[SunnyCalifornia]

Can't wait to find out ! This is really interesting!

 

[iajewel]

Awe.. never mind. Looked up Google images.. I remember doing that with geese years ago. Will do that tomorrow.

 

[Duck_feeder]

I've seen pictures of female muscovy ducks with similar caruncles, so I wouldn't based sex on the amount of caruncles alone. (Sorry can't seem to find pictures of it now).

To help clear up the matter of birds changing sexes, they do NOT. They can however *appear* to change sexes - enough to fool a judge that doesn't insist on a blood test.

At no point will the internal sex organs change.

The "sex change" is always from female to male. [edit: I'm not counting eclipse molts where a male will develop female plumage after mating season]

In birds, sex is determined by the ZW sex determination system. A bird that has a Z chromosome and W chromosome is female and a double Z is male. This is the opposite of mammals where XX is female and XY is male.

The presence of estrogen causes birds to exhibit female behavior and coloration (in dimorphic species). The lack of estrogen results in male behavior and coloration.

When a female chicken or duck loses the ability to create estrogen (often due to diseased ovary), the body chemistry shifts to that of a male. This can cause male plumage or growths like combs.

Despite the plumage and possible change in behavior (such as crowing for chickens), the bird is still female by all biological definitions. It remains genetically ZW and internally only has female reproductive organs.

The human equivalent to this would be what happens to men if they lose the ability to create testosterone (via steroid abuse or testicular cancer). Their body chemistry shifts to that of a woman and they may grow breasts. They might be able to fill out a sweater better, but they are still men.

 

[Duck_feeder]

Quote:
The problem with vent sexing is that you can only confirm that you have a boy (like sonograms for people). If you don't find a penis, you either have a girl or a boy that you vent sexed wrong.

You can put some lipstick around the vent of your possible female moscovy. If she lays an egg, some of the lipstick will transfer to the egg and you can be sure it was that duck that laid the egg.

If you're not sure which duck to test, just use 3 different color lipsticks on all three of them.

 

[sweeterdeeter42]

Muscovy drakes have a penis that will hang out when they are "in the mood." My sister had a Muscovy drake that would walk around the yard with it hanging out and "squirt." Very embarrassing when people are over. He would mount anything too. I have never seen any other breed of duck that was quite as vulgar as the Muscovy.

 

[QuailQT]

Maybe she was just a "tomboy" and now that she hit puberty, she wants to be female.

She would have had to have all of the eggs she would ever lay already inside her from when she was developed, wouldn't she? Like when a chicken lays a double yolker because two eggs have traveled together?

 

[iajewel]

The one with the "horn" in the photo, I know has a penis.. he does let it all hang out. Mr Freaky is really freaky..

 

[iajewel]

My neighbors are going to have me commited when they drive by and Im putting lip stick on my ducks butt..... I hope no one has a cell phone camara LOL... Great Idea.. Im going to do it.

 

[nettie]

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[dutchhollow]

Iajewel, I sometime run over to the palmyra action, usually muscovies adults and day olds. The adults usually go pretty high, a large number of folks that eat them are usually there, but we have picked up day old for .50. If you are interested, next time I run over I will keep an eye out.