Rouen Duck thread

[ChrisWNY]

Here is my pair of Rouens, a drake and a hen...unfortunately the hen has been MIA since yesterday morning. I got them in April so they're about 5 months old now. The drake is really tame...eats from my hand, lets me pet him, and he follows me all over the place. The female is a little more skittish. They camp out in the Igloo dog house inside my garage every night. Hoping the female is just nesting and shows up again soon...

 

[duckmeister]

Here is my pair of Rouens, a drake and a hen...unfortunately the hen has been MIA since yesterday morning. I got them in April so they're about 5 months old now. The drake is really tame...eats from my hand, lets me pet him, and he follows me all over the place. The female is a little more skittish. They camp out in the Igloo dog house inside my garage every night. Hoping the female is just nesting and shows up again soon...

Hi Chris, Welcome to the backyardchicken duck forums. Sorry to hear your Rouen hen went missing, I hope she turns up and nothing bad happened to her.

 

[luvmyduckies]

Great Idea!!! I think it would be even better if you could edit the start of the thread with some basic info size, description, how long they sit on eggs etc. Pictures of a male and a female would be nice too. Just a thought.

 

[laura29532]

My Rouen pair ducks swimming with female Peking..
Rouen drake has come into his adult colors..beautiful boy.!

 

[Ilovemyducks]

These pictures made it super easy to confirm males and females, The boys have yellow beaks and the girls have orange. I can. usually see traces around week 2 from hatching. Also it is more common that the male ducks attack other male ducklings. F\Giving us more of a heads up before the 2 week mark,Only Girl Rouens are loud the Boys barely make a noise.

 

[ChrisWNY]

From my limited experience, the males seem to have yellowish bills, the females have dark gray/black bills, as well as darker feet. I'm guessing it can vary though. Very difficult to tell ducklings apart and until the adult feathers come in, it's a guessing game. Hatcheries have a way of determining gender shortly after hatch, but I'm guessing the eggs are incubated at certain temps to influence gender.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

From my limited experience, the males seem to have yellowish bills, the females have dark gray/black bills, as well as darker feet. I'm guessing it can vary though. Very difficult to tell ducklings apart and until the adult feathers come in, it's a guessing game. Hatcheries have a way of determining gender shortly after hatch, but I'm guessing the eggs are incubated at certain temps to influence gender.

Just a tip. The boys bills will actually start to turn green. When we first got this I didn't realize that was a thing but it works like a charm. It works for swedish ducks too.

 

[extreme5]

Hello everyone! I do not have ducks yet. This spring, I found a skinny mallard cross, and took him home and took care of him until he was fatter, and then he went to a family that already had ducks. Turned out, my family really got along well with him, and we were sorry to see him go, so, now we're planning to get some ducks of our own. I figured Rouen would be good for us because they have a nice temperament and can't fly away. Temperament will be most important, since these will basically be pets, with a secondary egg laying function. I'm happy that this site exists!

 

[Sowas Ark]

Good Luck!!!!! Ducks are wonderful. Just keep an eye on them. I thought I had 4 Rouens. Turned out i had 3. Only found out one was a mallard when she flew the coop. Luckily she only flew 100' in my direction and I was able to catch her and put chicken wire on the coop. Post pictures once you get them settled.

 

[extreme5]

I am excited about the whole thing. Does anybody know which hatchery produces the friendliest and healthiest Rouens? I'm aiming for purchase in spring, so I have good weather for when they go outside.
Too funny that the mallard flew away - surprise!!