Questions for Muscovy duckling!

[tofuii]

Hello! Awhile ago I hatched four beautiful Muscovy ducklings - sadly three of them bullied my late hatcher born with her yolk and she imprinted on me hard enough to not want to be with her other duckling friends (I totally understand, I don't like feather pluckers either). She's healthy and kept separate during the night (mostly on a towel on my bed curled up against my side - I have a water dish in the windowsill behind me for constant access).

That's the story so far, but I have questions about sexing. I tried a few times while they were younger to vent sex them, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips besides voice queues?

This is Bundtcake, my runty ducklet. I can get better pictures if they'll help! She's a month and a few days old.

 

[nchls school]

Hello! Awhile ago I hatched four beautiful Muscovy ducklings - sadly three of them bullied my late hatcher born with her yolk and she imprinted on me hard enough to not want to be with her other duckling friends (I totally understand, I don't like feather pluckers either). She's healthy and kept separate during the night (mostly on a towel on my bed curled up against my side - I have a water dish in the windowsill behind me for constant access).

That's the story so far, but I have questions about sexing. I tried a few times while they were younger to vent sex them, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips besides voice queues? Muscovies don't quack so I don't think sexing by voice is possible.

This is Bundtcake, my runty ducklet. I can get better pictures if they'll help! She's a month and a few days old.

Why do you say, "runty"? My guess is she is a lot smaller than the others? Female muscovies ARE a lot smaller than the drakes. They are also far less bulky and have smaller feet and legs than the drakes. Comparing Bundtcake to the other three should give you the answer. If she survived having a yolk sac that wasn't completely absorbed at hatch she is one lucky ducky as most chicks/ducklings do not survive.

 

[tofuii]

Hello! Awhile ago I hatched four beautiful Muscovy ducklings - sadly three of them bullied my late hatcher born with her yolk and she imprinted on me hard enough to not want to be with her other duckling friends (I totally understand, I don't like feather pluckers either). She's healthy and kept separate during the night (mostly on a towel on my bed curled up against my side - I have a water dish in the windowsill behind me for constant access).

That's the story so far, but I have questions about sexing. I tried a few times while they were younger to vent sex them, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips besides voice queues? Muscovies don't quack so I don't think sexing by voice is possible.

This is Bundtcake, my runty ducklet. I can get better pictures if they'll help! She's a month and a few days old.

Why do you say, "runty"? My guess is she is a lot smaller than the others? Female muscovies ARE a lot smaller than the drakes. They are also far less bulky and have smaller feet and legs than the drakes. Comparing Bundtcake to the other three should give you the answer. If she survived having a yolk sac that wasn't completely absorbed at hatch she is one lucky ducky as most chicks/ducklings do not survive.

I had read somewhere that males are more hissy sounding and females kind of warble/coo. I know they're not that old yet but that's all I heard from everyone else i had asked/Google besides caruncles growth/size.

It took a lot of snuggles and constant warmth and monitoring but she did make it! She was very small compared to everyone else but had recently caught up to the size of my third hatched (positive female). They were weird for me as the two eldest were HUGE (one is already 8 pound) but they all developed feathers at the exact same time which I read was another possible sex indicator - i could be totally wrong but by all research I've done I think I dun hatched myself four girls.

 

[Going Quackers]

Poor baby! good job on saving her. Scovies are all size, in the beginning voice won't help and they lack drake feathers too, just to complicate things even more.


From the pics the head doesn't look overly large, nor the legs that said it's a whole lot easier when you have several together. I always found my drakelets had this pronounced chest even as a few days old but i have lost count how many scovie babies i have had over the years.

You don't have to put the baby in with the others but try comparing to the others, drakes start to stand out fairly quickly, almost making the females appear to be failing to thrive.

 

[tofuii]

Poor baby! good job on saving her. Scovies are all size, in the beginning voice won't help and they lack drake feathers too, just to complicate things even more.


From the pics the head doesn't look overly large, nor the legs that said it's a whole lot easier when you have several together. I always found my drakelets had this pronounced chest even as a few days old but i have lost count how many scovie babies i have had over the years.

You don't have to put the baby in with the others but try comparing to the others, drakes start to stand out fairly quickly, almost making the females appear to be failing to thrive.

Thank you! She spooked me a few times in the beginning, but she perked right up and is thriving!

She matches up with my similar sized female almost perfectly (who is exactly 1 day older), but the bigger ones still puzzle me? I have pictures of them all from about two weeks ago. Not the best lighting but Bundt is the one in the middle. The larger brown one is almost 8lbs already and I don't give them too many snacks as cute as they are! (They've been moved to their new enclosure since this picture)


This is the best I have of the bigger brown one and the bigger white one.


They're all very docile and snuggly and nibbly.

 

[JaeG]

I read that girls are more nervous and we found this to be true with our batch of Muscovy. The boys would come up to you and check you out and you could pick them up very easily, but the girls would bolt and were a nightmare to catch. I think it was around 6 weeks old that the difference became obvious.

Size wise they will need to be older before there is a significant difference between the sexes. The boys look longer in the body while the girls are more compact. I found this site helpful:
https://www.raising-ducks.com/determining-muscovy-gender/

By voice you won't be able to sex them until around 12 weeks old. One of our girls quacks at the moment, but it isn't loud like a regular ducks quack - it's soft and hoarse.

 

[tofuii]

I read that girls are more nervous and we found this to be true with our batch of Muscovy. The boys would come up to you and check you out and you could pick them up very easily, but the girls would bolt and were a nightmare to catch. I think it was around 6 weeks old that the difference became obvious.

Size wise they will need to be older before there is a significant difference between the sexes. The boys look longer in the body while the girls are more compact. I found this site helpful:
https://www.raising-ducks.com/determining-muscovy-gender/

By voice you won't be able to sex them until around 12 weeks old. One of our girls quacks at the moment, but it isn't loud like a regular ducks quack - it's soft and hoarse.

My smaller brown one (Mocha) bolts but is also INCREDIBLY snuggly - so snuggly in fact she stole my earring because I got so comfy with her (thank goodness it was pure sterling silver and got ground up in her crop with no poisoning). Bundt is also very snuggly but timid, the larger brown (Dot) is also timid but fine once you get her up in the air or against you, and the bigger white one (Dash) cares naught about anything except chest rubs and snuggles. I love this journey so far honestly and I won't be sad if any turn out to be male.