Say it ain't so! Are they all male?

[allergymama]

Earlier this year we added 4 Rouens from TSC to our flock. Please tell me that I am wrong. Are they all male?

Excuse the cruddy photography. Trying to take pics with phone in very bright sun, means only one pic was actually of ducks. LOL. And, then only three of them. I can see shiny green feathers near their beaks. 4th one looks the same. Hatched approximately march 9. (so about 12 weeks old)

If they are all male, can someone remind me when the best time to process them is? I think there is something about doing it before/after/during molt?

 

[TroyerGal]

Do they quack? My male ducks used to make a wheep-wheep sound and now they make a gurgling noise have their sex feathers developed yet? Ya know, the curly ones at the end of the tail

 

[dotknott]

7 weeks is the earliest you'll want to process. 7, 12.5 or 18 weeks are the duck rules of thumb. Are you processing them yourself? If so, you want to process when there are as few pin feathers and as many mature feathers as possible, which means sticking as close to those rules as possible, otherwise you're going to have a heck of a time removing the feathers.

If you're having them processed professionally then they'll do a decent job of removing feathers, and you'll be able to do them at any age you wish.. though the older they get the tougher they'll be. Rouens take a while to mature, so you may be just fine waiting until 18 weeks.

 

[allergymama]

Do they quack? My male ducks used to make a wheep-wheep sound and now they make a gurgling noise have their sex feathers developed yet? Ya know, the curly ones at the end of the tail

They do not have the tail curl. They make no noise. I even caught a couple of them the other day to make sure that I wasn't miscalculating because everyone is SO noisy when I'm out there. The closest I've heard are these little peeps (it's so funny to hear out of an almost full grown ducks!)

Are those green feathers definitive?

 

[allergymama]

7 weeks is the earliest you'll want to process. 7, 12.5 or 18 weeks are the duck rules of thumb. Are you processing them yourself? If so, you want to process when there are as few pin feathers and as many mature feathers as possible, which means sticking as close to those rules as possible, otherwise you're going to have a heck of a time removing the feathers.

 If you're having them processed professionally then they'll do a decent job of removing feathers, and you'll be able to do them at any age you wish.. though the older they get the tougher they'll be. Rouens take a while to mature, so you may be just fine waiting until 18 weeks.

We won't do them ourselves. We have a place down the road that will process them so I am glad to hear that it can happen kind of whenever. Thank you.

 

[TroyerGal]

They sound a lot like boys sorry. I hope they taste good

 

[dotknott]

We won't do them ourselves. We have a place down the road that will process them so I am glad to hear that it can happen kind of whenever. Thank you.

You might want to double check with your processor. I know mine doesn't care if they have feathers coming in, but yours might (it makes for tougher cleaning, as I mentioned.)

Also if you're planning on keeping the bird as a whole table bird, keep closer to the guidelines. You'll have a nicer looking table bird. If you're piecing it out then I think it matters less.

Rouens grow slow iirc, but I've never kept them myself so I don't know where their upper limit is on table bird age.

 

[allergymama]

You might want to double check with your processor. I know mine doesn't care if they have feathers coming in, but yours might (it makes for tougher cleaning, as I mentioned.)

Also if you're planning on keeping the bird as a whole table bird, keep closer to the guidelines. You'll have a nicer looking table bird. If you're piecing it out then I think it matters less.

Rouens grow slow iirc, but I've never kept them myself so I don't know where their upper limit is on table bird age.

I will call them. Thanks!

 

[allergymama]

They sound a lot like boys

sorry. I hope they taste good

darny darn darn darn

 

[dotknott]

Let me know what the processor says. I'm always interested in hearing other voices on this subject.