Muscovy ducklings males or females?

[Runa101]

I am new to Muscovy ducks and can't figure out whether I have males or females. I've read as much as I can online, and stared at the ducklings, and asked others for their opinions, but I still don't know. I'd appreciate help here! The ducks are 6 weeks old, and they all look alike to me - same size overall, same size feet, same size legs, their secondary wing feathers are all out and their primaries are not much more than pinfeathers, none of them have much in the way of caruncles yet, they all seem to walk pigeon toed. But I could be wrong, I never met a Muscovy until these three. I'm not even sure I have closeups of both light colored ducks. It could be the same one twice.









These pictures are form two days ago:

 

[txcarl1258]

My guess is top pic hen and the other two are drakes. However this could change as they mature. I have a solid black I was sure was a drake since it was two weeks old and now I am thinking it is a big female since my drakes are surpassing it in size.

 

[GodsProvision]

Ours are nearly two and a half weeks old and we are curious to find out what we have. There are seven total. Three are yellow and four are black yellow. It is possible that they are some eggs from each of our momma ducks. Only one of them sat on them and the other is sitting on eggs that should be all hers.

 

[Runa101]

Thank you for your input! Could you tell me what you're seeing that makes you think the top one is duck and the others drakes? Any info on what I'm trying to see would be most helpful.

I do hear what I think is trilling, but I can't figure out which one or ones. Are they too young for that? It's quieter that the cheeping they used to do, kind of a high pitched twittering sound.

 

[Going Quackers]

The main thing with scovies is size...

a few of my past ones and present...

Duck in the front, drake in the back




Chocolate is a duck, White is a drake they just hatched out this June



Pictures are hard because they lack perspective that said, ducks take longer to flesh, yet feather especially in the wings quicker.. drakes almost seem overly bulky, whereas females become more agile attempting flight.

 

[Mammachix]

I have 3-month old Muscoveys and think I have two drakes out of 8 in the flock. It's the first time I've had Muscovies though, so I am wondering whether the width of the tail indicates anything? The two that I think are drakes have wider tails than do the other five. They also wiggle a lot and act a bit more dominant than the others. Could the ones with thinner tails turn out to be drakes as well?

 

[Going Quackers]

I have 3-month old Muscoveys and think I have two drakes out of 8 in the flock. It's the first time I've had Muscovies though, so I am wondering whether the width of the tail indicates anything? The two that I think are drakes have wider tails than do the other five. They also wiggle a lot and act a bit more dominant than the others. Could the ones with thinner tails turn out to be drakes as well?

I dunno i admit despite years of raising them i have never looked at the tails lol It's always size for instance i have a clutch of 7 two are drakes the rest all ducks.. the boys are bigger than their mother the girls all look like mini versions as i showed in the above pics the drakes are just so bulky compared to the girls.

This is one of those drakes... he is BIG again a later June hatch.

 

[Runa101]

What if they're all the same size, how do you tell then?

 

[Runa101]

Ours hatched mid-July, I think. They're nowhere near as big as your June hatched drake, but then they are younger. I suppose time will tell but waiting is not my favorite thing...

 

[txcarl1258]

I hope this makes sense. The one I suspect is a duck has a shorter and more compact body. Drakes have longer and wider tails. I don't always use feet and legs because my solid black female has tree stumps for legs! I will try to upload some pics of mine that shows the difference. The best thing you can do to "train" your eye to catch the differences is to take pics weekly to see how they change. Once you get this down you can predict the sex pretty early on.