question about Muscovies

[Ducklove334]

I has a question about muscovies...I have 6...1 young white hen, I'd guess her age at maybe 6 months, and 5 5ish week old ducklin's

, my question is, I want to keep one of the drake ducklings (if there are any) in this bunch to be a mate to my white hen, I was always told 1). to look at thier feet, males had bigger feet, and also that you can tell a muscovies sex by 6-8 weeks, is this true?? when we got the ducklings the lady said they were two weeks old, making them about 5ish weeks now, they all have started thier molts, and have a fair bit of belly, and tail feathers, but when will I be able to tell thier sexes??

any help mucho appreciated!

 

[Wildsky]

Molt

Molt is when adult birds lose feathers and replace them.

You mean your ducklings are getting their feathers now and losing the fluff right?

You can tell by the size of the feet, but its difficult and you need to compare them to each other and try figure out who has the bigger feet. As they grow those boys feet will kinda look WAY too big for the size of body - but it quickly catches up.

 

[Ducklove334]

Quote:
well, I've always called that molting,

, yes, they are losing thier fuzz I was told it takes muscovies 8 weeks to fully feather. when we first got them, I could tell that three had bigger feet than the other three, but now since they are outside, thier feets all look the same

I may try cathcing them later, and getting pics of the feets to show you, and maybe y'all can help meh

 

[Wildsky]

I struggled with mine, I could guess how many boys and girls, but it changed on a daily basis, and I could only be 100% sure when they started to develop the red on the face.

I got 3 boys 3 girls out of my 6.

 

[moodusnewchick]

the males are also supposed to be dramatically bigger in body size. I have five that are probably 10 weeks old, i don't really know. Two have been clearly larger for awhile. I don't when this starts, but there's something with the hissing too. One of the sexes hisses, I think males.

 

[Wildsky]

Mine are around 4-5 months, and the males hiss alot more than the girls. The males make a BIG old fuss when the dog goes out.

The males bodies are HUGE compared to the girls - they can't get air when they try to fly - but the girls fly up on the roof no problem.

THose changes you will only see later on, not when they're little, I can't say exactly when, but it must have been around 3 months before the body size was so dramatically different.

 

[ugly ducky]

I have 3 that are 15 weeks, and it is very obvious...2 ducks 1 drake. He is about half again as big as the hens....gonna be a big boy! Then I have 9 that are 8 weeks, and they are just, in the last week or so, beginning to show a difference in the foot size. I'm thinking 4 hens and 5 drakes at this point, but am not certain yet. Right now it's an every day guessing game. The colors are as interesting to see develop as their foot size. I've got some odd colors going on....lilacs, fawn, or who knows. They sure are fun to raise!!!

 

[Cottage Rose]

Strangely enough Muscovies ducklings have what I call a baby molt.
Just when they get all feathered out and they're looking pretty they
go through a molt.
They don't lose all their feathers but they definately molt.

There will be no question in your mind when your ducklings feather out...
on whose-who.
The drakes have noticeably bigger bodys, feet and beaks.

Ugly duck...if you breed a chocolate drake to a blue duck you will get some lilacs (aka blue fawns) and chocolates, as well as black and blue males that carry chocolate
I have a photo of some lilacs on my home page and in my Muscovy gallery.

My black drake Elvis carrys a chocolate gene so bred a lilac duck will produce lilac.

Interesting is that if you breed a blue drake to a chocolate duck you will not get lilacs...rather you will get black and blues and the males will carry chocolate.

 

[conny63malies]

if you can post pic of them preferably with their feet showing we will give a shot.

 

[Ducklove334]

Ok, I will attempt to get desent pictures of everyone tomorrow, can't today (doc. appointment at 2, then work from 4-8, YAY..not), but I'm off tomorrow, so I'll try at some point lol!