Is this duck male or female?

[chicken mother]

i have welsh harlequins and silver appleyards, all female. except for this one welsh harlequin that i’m not so sure about. i always thought it was a male but now they’re 5 months old and he still doesnt look like a drake. i was waiting for the dark feathers from the neck up but they never appeared. and just lately, his yellow beak is starting to have black on it. i thought it was dirt but it never went away. so... male or female? i cant tell.

 

[sourland]

Looks like a duck to me. Old enough for voice sexing - does she quack?

 

[fatty and friends]

definitely a hen

 

[chicken mother]

Looks like a duck to me. Old enough for voice sexing - does she quack?

yes!! but very hard to hear over the silver appleyards practically yelling haha. does this mean she is a female?

 

[Quatie]

I agree a female. It should have the colored head and drake tail curl by now. I remember reading some where that some Welsh females don't necessarily have black beaks.

 

[chicken mother]

definitely a hen

ooh just saw this, thanks! i wasnt sure because the bill stayed completely yellow until just recently

 

[chicken mother]

I agree a female. It should have the colored head and drake tail curl by now. I remember reading some where that some Welsh females don't necessarily have black beaks.

thank you for the reply!! i was definitely confused by the beak

 

[fatty and friends]

ooh just saw this, thanks! i wasnt sure because the bill stayed completely yellow until just recently

beak color doesn’t really say anything, i had a girl who had a green beak

 

[Everose]

A female Welsh harlequin isn't considered "show quality" unless she has a black bill (technically a dark green). Sometimes a duck with a yellow bill will gradually develop a black bill as she ages. She is considered breed-standard since it changed, if it stayed yellow she would be non-breed-standard.

 

[Everose]

These stages of bill color apply to Welsh harlequins only.

1. Hatch day, dark bills = boy, pinkish with a black "bean" on the tip = girl.
2. Juvenile stage (two weeks after hatch until they grow adult plumage), all black billed, any with yellow bills at this point are just yellow billed (faulted).
3. Adult stage, males should get their voices and their bills will probably begin to lighten. Females will keep sporting that beautiful dark bill, unless it's yellow billed. Very few ducks have a change in bill color once they are adults.

Bill sexing on hatch day only has an 80 to 90% accuracy.