Muscovy gender time!

[shelbydog]

I got 4 new Muscovies yesterday. I was shooting for 3 girls and 1 boy....but now seeing them with my older 2 girls I think I got 3 boys and 1 girl. I'm looking at their feet and legs and I read the girls get their flight feathers first (right???). But they move around and my eyes are going crossed trying to confirm that 3 of them definitely have smaller feet then the one with the biggest feet. They are around 9 weeks old but I'm not sure on their exact hatch dates and I'll assume they were not all hatched on same day. The breeder's younger daughters were advising on gender when I would point one out in the grassy paddock with a flock of various ages.
And of course there was a beautiful young brown and white female with what appeared to be a hint of lavender/blue to the brown (this is my naked eye interpretation of color, don't know actual color genetics) that I pointed out as 'I want' and she wasn't for sale. .
Here we go......

I think the one above in the middle is a girl. She's the only one fully feathered with fully feathered wings.

I think this one above is a boy. Biggest of the 4. Has the biggest feet, still has fuzz above the tail, flight feathers staring to come in, and of course that wide stance.

The next 2....I'm not sure....there is the smallest one and the one same sized as the one I think is female.

The first pic is the smallest of the group on the left with the biggest to the right. Second pic is smallest again. No visible from short distance sign of flight feathers yet.

Please say this one above is a girl! It's pretty much same sized as the one I think is a girl. Has just a tiny bit of fuzz left above tail and flight feathers are more developed then 'big boy'. In first pic it's on the right (2 dots on neck) and 'girl' to the left. In second pic the 'girl' is to the right and 'big boy' on left.

Here are some group pics:

Above left to right: smallest one (gender???), 'girl', 'big boy', girl?.

Above left to right: smallest one, 'girl', girl?, 'big boy'.

Here is a pic of my 2 older girls...guessing about 15 weeks old now

My blue pies came from a different breeder. These new ones have longer tails so this is giving me the visual appearance that they are longer bodied and therefore all male. But, the blues' tails are also a little ratty on the ends so maybe they aren't as long as they should be. The 3 smaller ones of the new group seem to have bigger feet then my existing girls but then again I'm going crosseyed looking at moving feet. Or can females from one breeding stock be a little bigger than females from other breeding stock.

What does everyone else think?

 

[learycow]

Is there any way you can post the pictures so they are larger?
I feel like i am going cross-eyed straining to look at the pictures and help! HAHA

From what I can tell, and this is an educated guess, it's hard to tell for sure as the pics are so small:
The one in the third picture down is a drake. He looks larger than the rest, and the stance also suggests male. But by this age you should be able to tell by their size (assuming they are all the same age).

As for the rest, I want to say female though they chocolate one makes me want to say male in some of the pictures.

If you can, and I know how HARD it can be as they never hold still, try to get some pics of the 4 standing together. Side pics, even a birds-eye-view pic of all together can help determine sizes.

And if you can find a way to post them so they are larger and easier to see, that would help also

 

[shelbydog]

Well, I pretty much only use my iPhone for pics and Internet. I know on the mobile version you can click on the pics to make them larger. Does it not work the same on desktop version?

I'll post updated pics of the bottom 2 as they get older.

Thanks for your input.

 

[learycow]

I feel dumb, haha. Yes it does!
Let me look at them that way, haha

 

[learycow]

That didn't help, LOL
From looking at the larger pics, they all look like drakes except for the one in the picture with the chicken's head! It just seems like they have unusually thick legs

Sometimes if you look at them from the top you can tell the size differences better. Either way, if you wait another 1-2 weeks they should become more obvious. The drakes will all of a sudden be huge and the hens will seem to stay the same, small.

 

[shelbydog]

LOL...they do have thick legs. The one I know for certain is male has the biggest feet. I'm kinda thinking the smallest one is the youngest one b/c it has the most fuzz and I'm kinda thinking its a boy. If worse case scenario is that 3 out of 4 are boys then I'll keep the boy I like best and will be finding out what Muscovy tastes like sooner than I planned if they get unruly.