Need to sex Call Ducks

[zoofolk]

No....it is much bigger then it appears. My Muscovy loved his home. He would even come to us to tell us it was time for bed. And he was a big boy!! Yes......going from a slow, quiet Muscovy to a hyper, little call duckling.......been a HOOT so far!! lol

And I will look for those other threads. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[zoofolk]

I even have a tattoo of Daffy. It was taken from an actual picture of him. After his death, I had his birth and death year added. Kind of brought it together.

 

[Amykins]

I even have a tattoo of Daffy. It was taken from an actual picture of him. After his death, I had his birth and death year added. Kind of brought it together.

D'awwwwm I should get one of my two babies, too. Wouldn't know where though, I kinda have a literary motif happenin' with my tats.

No....it is much bigger then it appears. My Muscovy loved his home. He would even come to us to tell us it was time for bed. And he was a big boy!! Yes......going from a slow, quiet Muscovy to a hyper, little call duckling.......been a HOOT so far!! lol

Haaaaaaa that's too cute! Yeah, considering how demure and gentle muscovies are, I'm sure your lil' spitfire call duck is one heck of a contrast! I love their personalities, for such tiny birds they think they're as big as ostriches

 

[zoofolk]

I agree!!! She's one, tough cookie!!

 

[lozpearl]

Our ducklings were quite different at that age! We had our suspicions around their genders early on. Our girl Lulu made a heap of noise and Billy was very quiet. When he eventually started making noise his quack sounded quite raspy, which I've heard before is typical of a male call. Despite being 2 weeks younger than Lulu he suddenly became bigger than her! Pretty tell tale signs until they're older and you know for sure

 

[JadeComputerGal]

So I have a grey and not a snowy? What color are the snowy girls? And why do they call them "greys' when they really don't have any grey?

The gray drakes actually do have a lot of gray when they're in nuptial plumage. It's a beautiful silvery color that is much prettier than the word 'gray' really conveys. Since ducks don't molt into nuptial plumage like drakes do, they never get the silvery-gray feathers.

 

[zoofolk]

When would she do her first moult? She's just over 6 weeks. I had one friend already tell me that she is a definite female. And I know because she's pretty loud. All that noise from a tiny bird. Amazing.

 

[Amykins]

Our ducklings were quite different at that age! We had our suspicions around their genders early on. Our girl Lulu made a heap of noise and Billy was very quiet. When he eventually started making noise his quack sounded quite raspy, which I've heard before is typical of a male call. Despite being 2 weeks younger than Lulu he suddenly became bigger than her! Pretty tell tale signs until they're older and you know for sure

Heh, when I first got Wobbles I thought he was a girl because of his high-pitched voice. See, I didn't know that males actually go through several stages of voice changes, so I just assumed he had to be a girl. And, well, you know what they say about making assumptions...

Looking back I feel like a total idiot for thinking so because now that we have an ACTUAL female, the difference is night and day! Strangely, I can now tell them apart from their voice as ducklings. After enough vent sexing of calls I've noticed that the males' beeps are just a hair lower-pitched than the females'.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

When would she do her first moult? She's just over 6 weeks. I had one friend already tell me that she is a definite female. And I know because she's pretty loud. All that noise from a tiny bird. Amazing.

At least most of the down is usually replaced by the juvenile feathers by 8 weeks. It looks like your little girl already has at least most of her juvenile feathers. First-year ducks molt again into their adult plumage, and that typically happens between 4-5 months old. The molt is a gradual process. They lose certain sets of feathers over that time, and it progresses until all the feathers have been replaced.

 

[zoofolk]

Thanks!!