mallards?? I think..Pix added

[RockyToggRanch]

I bought 4 rouen ducklings from TSC and I think they're mallards. Is there an easy way to tell? I've had mallards in the past, but they left with a flock of wild mallards. I thought rouens were too large to fly? These look just like female mallards and are good flyers at 10 weeks old.

 

[Cetawin]

brahmapooter their is a difference in the faces for sure...markings are different...can you post pics of the babies and close ups of the faces?

 

[RockyToggRanch]

I'll go try to find them. It's raining so they're having fun.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Okay...let me first say...I know my deck needs power washing

Here they are with the 2 I hatched from Jan swap eggs.




click to enlarge

 

[RockyToggRanch]

do you need more pix?

 

[xfilesnumber1fan]

If they are good flyers they are Mallards as Rouens dont fly they are twice the size as a mallard..and I have never known TSC to sell Rouens...My babies from TSC are almost 11 weeks they are truly mallards and fly great!!Most rouens have a double black line on the face instead on 1 like a mallard does...Herer are my 100% mallards..They will look female until they molt at around 4 months I think and if they are male they will turn to green heads and the white ring around the neck and gray feathers for boys...These are my babies I have 6 from TSC,I know it is 3 females and 3 males..By the quack and beck color...

Here are my adult drakes

 

[RockyToggRanch]

That urks me. They were clearly signed as rouens.

Can you tell at 10 weeks if they are female?

How will I keep them from flying away with the wild ones? Dang it.
That's why I chose rouens.
Will I have to clip a wing?

 

[xfilesnumber1fan]

Quote:
I can tell at 10 weeks 3 quack loud and 3 are very quite..The 3 boys also have a lighter color beck and the girls are dark..I dont know that to be always true but it has been in my case also you will start soon to see a glimmer of green on their head if boys if the light is just hitting them right on mine I see the green and they will be 11 weeks Wednsday...My have never flown away and they are not clipped but I dont ever have ducks I have seen fly by as I live in the city so no ducks around but mine..They fly all around the yard wont leave it..You can clip the flight feathers if you want do only 1 wing I have clipped before..Pull the wing out the first 3 longest feathers I leave then cut all the rest to the blue colored ones..Make sure they are fully feathered wings are they will bleed...
I choose the mallaed breed because I loved to watch them fly and they are so light I have a 10lb crested female and an 8lb Pekin those were my first 2 ducks and I had no idea they would get that big!!

 

[1duckychick]

I have 2 week old mallards and rouens. They were all hatched on the same day and the mallards are about half the size of the rouens. My male rouen has the double face line but the female has only one.

One thing I noticed, on some websites as well as with my own, is that rouens tend to have fat bellies!. By the end of the first week I could see the difference in belly size between the 4.

For the sexing part, if they've started quacking that's a good way to tell. The females have the traditional quack while the males have more of a deep, gravely croak.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

At what age do the drakes get their drake colors? I did notice that 2 of them have greenish tint to their beaks.