Khaki Campbell gender?

[duckducksnooze]

Hey all,

I've attaching a couple pictures of my 5 week old Khakis. I know it is probably too early to tell what sex they are and the first indicator will be their quack/bwep sounds, but I have some questions as well!

Two of the four have darker bills but have slowly started showing a bit more yellow in them. The other two, which I think are on the left of both pictures, have much more yellow in their bills and always have. Their legs all seem to be close to the same colour as well. At times one of the darker billed ones makes what sounds like a quack, and it's been doing that for a couple weeks now randomly. Do their bills and legs/feet go through lots of colour changes when they're this young? I have mostly read that drakes tend to have blue/greenish bills and there isn't much talk about yellow. I also read a lot about the females having slate grey bills which the two on the right seem to match that description but not completely. Am I wasting my time concerning myself with this at the moment? They're such a close-knit unit so I'm hoping for only one drake (or zero) since we have chickens as well.

Any opinions/thoughts would be great

 

[KathiQuacks]

Your two yellow-bills could be drakes. Yes, they’ll go through bill / feet color changes now, but it’s not always an indicator of gender. I’d trust voice-sexing for now. In fact, you should be able to voice-sex them right now. Anyone doing the random, loud quack like you say is a girl, and anyone who isn’t is likely a boy.

 

[Jenbirdee]

i agree with @KathiQuacks

 

[GlicksChicks]

At 8-12 weeks of age you should be looking at their tails. Drakes will form a curled feather on their tail called a "drake curl" which means they are male.

From what I have found, only Muscovy ducks don't have drake curls.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Take a picture of the top of them. Khaki drakes have solid dark feathers above their tails. The one tail I can see in the second picture is a drake. Females have lighter two-toned feathers. Sometimes you get one with dark two-toned feathers. These are a toss up. One of mine was female, one male. As said, if any are quacking, they are female. Don’t hate me, but if I had to guess, I would say all of yours are all drakes. In the picture below, the girl is on the left, boy on the right.

 

[duckducksnooze]

Take a picture of the top of them. Khaki drakes have solid dark feathers above their tails. The one tail I can see in the second picture is a drake. Females have lighter two-toned feathers. Sometimes you get one with dark two-toned feathers. These are a toss up. One of mine was female, one male. As said, if any are quacking, they are female. Don’t hate me, but if I had to guess, I would say all of yours are all drakes. In the picture below, the girl is on the left, boy on the right.
View attachment 3843054

Thanks for the insight.

Here's a picture from this morning. Not the greatest lighting due to the sun being low but I'll post another later today when I get a better one.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Thanks for the insight.

Here's a picture from this morning. Not the greatest lighting due to the sun being low but I'll post another later today when I get a better one.

View attachment 3843212

It is hard to tell with the lighting and they haven’t lost all of their baby feathers. I will wait for better pictures. Where did you get them? The yellow bills are confusing me?! I did have some Dutch Hookbill drakes get some yellow in their bills and I think it was because their feed was high in corn giving them a lot of beta carotene.

 

[duckducksnooze]

It is hard to tell with the lighting and they haven’t lost all of their baby feathers. I will wait for better pictures. Where did you get them? The yellow bills are confusing me?! I did have some Dutch Hookbill drakes get some yellow in their bills and I think it was because their feed was high in corn giving them a lot of beta carotene.

We got them from Kijiji (Canadian equivalent to Craigslist). It wasn't from a reputable hatchery so it's possible they're mixed, who knows.

Here are some better pictures.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Are you hearing any quacks? How long have you had them? Because, they sure look like drakes to me. This is a video of my 3 1/2 week old female Dutch Hookbill. She is getting her quack a little early but this is what a girl sounds like.
Video

 

[duckducksnooze]

Are you hearing any quacks? How long have you had them? Because, they sure look like drakes to me. This is a video of my 3 1/2 week old female Dutch Hookbill. She is getting her quack a little early but this is what a girl sounds like.
Video

Not any obvious quacks like yours. One makes a bit of a honk (herrrr) noise the odd time and has for a couple weeks now. They're still mostly making the beep beep noises like when they were babies.

We've had them since they were 3 days old. They are 5 weeks old today.