Male or female Muscovy duckling (also what color pattern IS THIS?!)

[Tessaturtle]

Hi all. We are having a difficult time determining how many males and females we have out of our group of 7, five 1/2 week old Muscovy ducklings. One is very obvious he is a boy as is neck sticks out further, his legs are tall and thick, and he is just much bigger than his siblings. One of them has a very interesting color pattern we have not had before either, so I'd be curious if anyone knows what it is (pied, ripple, etc.) That one also sometimes looks like a male, and then other days I think, no its a female. I've never had this much trouble telling the sex before, even at this age, but this group of siblings are making it really hard. Here are some pics:


This is the one with the interesting coloring - and the one where I think male somedays, and other days I think female. It started out as a all yellow duckling. Its mother is chocolate and white, and its father could be a solid black (with just tiny flecks of white on chest) or a solid chocolate.


These three on the right (front) I think are female, but not entirely sure. Here's another pic of them:


any help or comments are appreciated!

 

[Tessaturtle]

Anyone?

 

[Miss Lydia]

This is what my duckling looked like last year

this was a few months later

not sure what you call it though barred?

a year later..

 

[learycow]

The 3 chocolate, if all hatched together, looks like a female in the middle, males on either end. And the barred (yellow duckling in question) looks big so guess would be male as well.
But it can be SO hard to tell in pictures! Just compare sizes. If hard now, give them another 1-2 weeks. It should start to be obvious very soon as males will get very noticably larger.

And the yellow one with "odd" feathering is a black barred.
As ducklings they are yellow with colored tails. The color of the tail determines the color they will be as adults.

Top duckling is blue barred, bottom is black barred (hard to see the colored tail against the hay)


Chocolate barred


This is a clutch of all barred babies, blacks, blues and lavenders. Mom is the black duck in the back. You can sort of see she has barring on her belly.



This is a juvenile black barred drake. They look like this once they fully feather. But they lose barring when they molt into their adult feathers. The will be black with barring showing usually only on the chest, back, and belly. Some will lose barring each time the molt, others tend to show a little bit more after each molt.

 

[Tessaturtle]

Wow, great, thanks for the input! Yes the three chocolates and the yellow barred in question are all "siblings". I guess Muscovy genetics are a complicated and surprising thing! We never expected to get a full 'yellow' duckling out of the chocolate mom and possible dads (solid chocolate, solid black, or black with 3 tiny white spots) - much less a barred one as you pointed out. He did have slight black on his tail when born, so its good to know that sign will predict what kind of barred. Out of the two other clutches by our two other hens (same possible daddies) we have 6 yellow ones. They are only 3 weeks old, so they have not started to color yet. I will have to go out there and look closer at their tails!

 

[learycow]

Haha, muscovy ducks are excellent at hiding colors and patterns! The barred needs to be in both parents in order for it to show up in their offspring so you must have a drake and at least one hen that are carriers.

And white muscovy, as ducklings, will be a bright yellow. No other color, pink or orange bills and legs.
But some can be easily mistaken for whites. Silver, buff, and cream can look like white if you are new to muscovy and their colors. Silver tend to have a purplish color to their bills, sometimes but not always their legs too.
Buff and cream tend to have a more brown hue to the down (you really won't even notice it unless you have one next to a white).


Not the best lighting, but the top duckling is a white, bottom duckling is a buff or cream (I won't know until he/she feathers).

Pictures sometimes help for comparison

 

[B&B duck lady]

The 3 chocolate, if all hatched together, looks like a female in the middle, males on either end. And the barred (yellow duckling in question) looks big so guess would be male as well.
But it can be SO hard to tell in pictures! Just compare sizes. If hard now, give them another 1-2 weeks. It should start to be obvious very soon as males will get very noticably larger.

And the yellow one with "odd" feathering is a black barred.
As ducklings they are yellow with colored tails. The color of the tail determines the color they will be as adults.

Top duckling is blue barred, bottom is black barred (hard to see the colored tail against the hay)


Chocolate barred


This is a clutch of all barred babies, blacks, blues and lavenders. Mom is the black duck in the back. You can sort of see she has barring on her belly.



This is a juvenile black barred drake. They look like this once they fully feather. But they lose barring when they molt into their adult feathers. The will be black with barring showing usually only on the chest, back, and belly. Some will lose barring each time the molt, others tend to show a little bit more after each molt.

The 3 chocolate, if all hatched together, looks like a female in the middle, males on either end. And the barred (yellow duckling in question) looks big so guess would be male as well.
But it can be SO hard to tell in pictures! Just compare sizes. If hard now, give them another 1-2 weeks. It should start to be obvious very soon as males will get very noticably larger.

And the yellow one with "odd" feathering is a black barred.
As ducklings they are yellow with colored tails. The color of the tail determines the color they will be as adults.

Top duckling is blue barred, bottom is black barred (hard to see the colored tail against the hay)


Chocolate barred


This is a clutch of all barred babies, blacks, blues and lavenders. Mom is the black duck in the back. You can sort of see she has barring on her belly.



This is a juvenile black barred drake. They look like this once they fully feather. But they lose barring when they molt into their adult feathers. The will be black with barring showing usually only on the chest, back, and belly. Some will lose barring each time the molt, others tend to show a little bit more after each molt.

Wow! Most beautiful ducklings and ducks I've ever seen. Amazing colors. I'm going to attach a picture of my duckling. How he was and how he is now. They think is a he. What is a Barred Black Muscovy? Do you think mine is a barred? Is that the name for the color pattern? By the way he's now 4 weeks only. I dont know anything about ducks, this is an orphan and I'm looking for a loving family to adopt him. I'm in Fl. will drive to deliver him if in Fl. in case you know of anyone and maybe you can help me. Free to good home because I can't keep him. Thank you.

 

[B&B duck lady]

This is what my duckling looked like last year

this was a few months later

not sure what you call it though barred?

a year later..

Wow! You have beautiful birds! Do you think Quacky is a barred? I never asked you.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes looks to be.

 

[learycow]

Wow! You have beautiful birds! Do you think Quacky is a barred? I never asked you.

Yes black barred