Need help guessing age and sex of Muscovy ducklings

[Texasmja]

I just got these three today from the feed store. The hen was in a huge pen with a ton of babies, I picked two that were the smallest and had the thinnest looking legs from the rest. I am hoping they are females. I have no idea how old they are. The hen has the red on her face but doesn't have a carnacle bulb, is that normal?

 

[Going Quackers]

Are they ever cute! Mum is fine not all ducks do.. um, age basing on size and feather growth.. a few weeks old, i have a 8wk old here they look about that age or perhaps a week or two less.. so 6-8wks roughly speaking.. They honestly look drake like to me.. those thick legs... big feet.. either way nice looking birds! I didn't know feed supplies sold families around here they only bring in babies and only for a very specific time.

 

[Texasmja]

We are in a small town and our feed store is owned by a family. He sells all kinds of animals, sometimes he has horses there! LOL. It is hard for me to find Muscovies here, so when I saw all them and this hen, I started looking at their legs right away, and the others legs were twice as thick....I already have two males, I sure do not need anymore, lol.

 

[jdywntr]

Its hard to say from pictures. Were the ducklings all from the same clutch? If so, then size would be the determining factor. When I had ducklings, there was an obvious size difference at about 4 weeks old. Heres a pic of mine at about 5 weeks old. Based on the feathering on yours I'd say about 6 weeks old. Pictures are decieving though and angles don't always show the true size. Yours are cute though. Just guessing but I'd say the one with more white is male and the other female.

 

[Texasmja]

The feed store just hatched a clutch of babies from some eggs given to him, is there anyway to tell when they are just days old? I really want females and can't find any!

 

[jdywntr]

The feed store just hatched a clutch of babies from some eggs given to him, is there anyway to tell when they are just days old? I really want females and can't find any!

Only if vent sexed and from what I've read it is much harder with muscovy than other breeds. If you want a better chance of not getting males, I'd get older ones. Either that or have a plan for your excess drakes. They are delicious but don't know if processing is something that you would do.

My new scovy were 3 months when I got them and I picked 4 of the smallest and the 1 largest.

 

[Texasmja]

The problem here is no one will sell a female full grown, I am lucky to have found the one yesterday. I have advertised on Craigslist wanting females and not one response,

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They are not common ducks here, so they are hard to get.

We raise and process our own chicken, so butchering is not an issue for us.

 

[jdywntr]

The problem here is no one will sell a female full grown, I am lucky to have found the one yesterday. I have advertised on Craigslist wanting females and not one response,

...

They are not common ducks here, so they are hard to get.

We raise and process our own chicken, so butchering is not an issue for us.

If that is the case, then if they are reasonably priced, you may want to just buy a bunch and process any extra drakes. The people I got mine from were VERY lucky to have what looked like 12 females out of 13 ducklings.

They thought they were all females but had not had ducklings before. The one I got was obviously twice as big as the others.