I Tried Vent Sexing my Babies

[Lolliegee]

Ok, so I tried vent sexing my 6 little ducklings (ok, they're not so little already...sheesh, it's amazing how fast they grow!!!). What are the odds that all 6 of them would be female??? What am I doing wrong?

 

[Mahonri]

Quote:
Astronomical.

Wish I could help...I've never done it.

 

[ShadyGlade]

What kind of ducks & how old are they? Vent sexing of immature waterfowl is difficult and can result in permanent damage. If they are a mallard derivative duck then you ought to be able to tell by voice even before the tail feathers mature perhaps as early as four or five weeks.

 

[ChickenToes]

Good advice, shadyglade!

If you aren't familiar with vent sexing, it's better to just wait and see. I think it's more fun that way anyway. You wait for all the feathers to come in, and you sit there and guess who's who based on how loud they are...just sit back and enjoy your ducklings!

 

[L*A*G*]

Y is it so important? give it time. then u can just look at them and know.

 

[Lolliegee]

Quote:
They're Khaki Campbells. I had read on another thread that you could vent sex them. It had very clear instructions and I was very gentle. They're 2 1/2 weeks old.

I'm just so curious what we have. Especially since one of them was crested and we named him Elvis...I'm really hoping he really is a "he". Of course, if I have to wait, I will. I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt them. Can you tell anything by their voice at this point? A couple of them sound a little raspy...does that mean anything?

 

[dixiechick]

I choose not to vent sex (even if I knew how)...because of the increased risk in causing internal damage. Guess I chalk them up to tiny Christmas presents....waiting to see what they are!

 

[ShadyGlade]

You can vent sex them but what you are looking at is very tiny & if you have never seen it in its mature form then I'm not even certain that it is recognizable in its immature form. The "private parts" of waterfowl are not as easy to determine as say mammals. I learned some years ago from an old timer. If you are doing it correctly its very messy for you and intrusive for them. I vent sex my young fowl when I an sending excess to the freezer and even at that size sometimes it is tough to tell with 100% accuracy it seems that like every thing else there is a wide variety of normals for both sexes. A nice looking male White Chinese that I kept last fall is NOT in fact a gander. The size of her immature crest and her privates seemed to indicate clearly a male but there you have it a surprise. The voice isn't a bad way to tell sex & its normally fairly accurate. The females have the "bigger" louder, harsher voice-very noisy. The little drakes start to sound hoarse, as if they are losing their voices.

 

[raindrop]

I could tell with mine by voice when they were 4 weeks old. Only a week and a half to wait!

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

unless you can tell by adult plumage, is there any other way to tell? I have 4 ducks, that all sound the same... loud quacks have sort of faded to more clucking sounds... st. run, so the chances of all being female are slim, one looks like a black swede, and has green wingtips.... does this mean male?