No quacking at 6 weeks = boy?

Jen1979

Songster
7 Years
Sep 14, 2013
165
11
131
Perth Hills, Western Australia
Hi all

We have one duckling at the moment (and 5 adult ducks). The duckling hasn't quacked yet, it's still peeping and making a sort of hoarse quack (not the same raspy noise as my adult male makes, but definitely not a normal loud girl quack). He's 6 weeks old tomorrow and not fully feathered yet but would I assume he's definitely a boy? It's rather hard when you don't have a few ducklings of the same age to compare their progress!

The only reason I'm really anxious to find out is because if he is a boy, our ratio of male to female won't be very good (3 females, 2 males) so we will get 2 more adult females to add to the flock. There are some I could get at the moment that are lovely 8 month old girls. We'd prefer not to have to get any more ducks at the moment, but will if our ratio is definitely no good.

We've got our duckling and his mum separated from the rest of the ducks at the moment because our male was picking on the littlie and constantly trying to mate with his mum.

So, do I need to wait a few more weeks to confirm if he's a boy, or is it obvious by now?

And how do I go about introducing two adult ducks to our flock with the least amount of problems?
 
Usually you will hear the girl quack around this time but I wouldn't say you have a male for sure yet. If by 10weeks you aren't hearing a quack I would say it's a boy, but it's still early now.
 
Thanks :) Ok, I'll continue to wait and listen for a few more weeks yet! I remember the duck that was the egg mum to this baby (I say egg mum because I'm quite sure the mumma duck who hatched this one was not the mumma who laid the egg! :) ) was quite a late quacker - I was still not 100% sure with her at 6 weeks from memory, even though the others had been quacking away for a few weeks.
 
If its like grasping,or hissing,it is a male.
Hens don't start their quack into maybe three or more months....
I disagree. My girls started to make females noises at 3-6 weeks and were full on adult quacking by 9 weeks. They are now 12 weeks and there is no mistaking them as female quacking so "3 more months doesn't make sense". Mine are not even 3 months old and have been quacking for a while.
 
When my adults I have now were babies they were the same as @needlessjunk described. I had one start a proper loud quack at 4 weeks, one start female noises at 5-6 weeks and the other just after that. My male was still peeping like a baby up until about 8 weeks, then he started making his raspy noise - he either whispers or sounds like he's talking, he says "brrrowwwww" a lot, but I still haven't figured out what that means :D

Mine are Indian Runners if it makes any difference.
 
My current boy didn't get his drake curly feather until he was about 4 months old though. He might have been mounting before that, or maybe he just didn't grow it until then. I'm guessing I'd be able to tell by the lack of quack before the curly tail showed up
 
Drake feathers show up around 15 weeks give or take. You will know by voice way before then. One of my boys got his drake feathers at 12 weeks the other at 14 weeks.

It can sneak up on ya, it's not un heard of for an owner to be positive their bird is one gender, only for it to literally change its voice overnight! :p Happened to me...
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