Muscovy gender question

[craftymama86]

I posted a few months ago about the Muscovy ducklings my DH bought his parents. One is a chocolate Muscovy and the other is a black Muscovy. The chocolate is quite large and the black is small(er). Now, is it obvious by size which is female and which is male? Or is it different for each type of Muscovy duck? I don't have any good, recent pics of them but will take and post some tomorrow if needed. Thanks in advance!

 

[bufforp89]

Judging by size you have a male and female. My males always get way way bigger then the females after a few weeks. Lucky you ended up with a pair!

 

[craftymama86]

I figured they were male and female but my MIL thought that the males are smaller...that wouldn't make too much sense though, seems like it would be hard to mate, lol. Then again, I don't know very much at all about ducks. I am learning though, ha.

Here's something else. MIL said she saw the little black one trying to get on one of the mallard females. Would a female do such a thing? Could it have, if it is indeed female, trying to fight the mallard female off?

 

[Bleenie]

Female ducks will sometimes chase down and mount other females to prove their dominance. I have one female that is constantly doing it, i think she is insecure because she has a lot more caruncles(mask) than the other Muscovy girls

 

[craftymama86]

That's what I thought too b/c our 2 hens went through that when they were a little younger. Here's a few pics I got of them (the ducks) today.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Yup, the brown pied is a male and the black pied is a female.

Chocolates are solid brown and blacks are solid black.

 

[desertdarlene]

I agree, one of each.

 

[craftymama86]

Thanks for the responses. Now if I could just convince my MIL.