Scovy boy or girl?

[SampyArctica]

I'm in the process of gathering some females to keep my Muscovy drake company and have spotted this one at a shelter. About a third of the vets/nurses I spoke with thought it may be male but two thirds thought female, it was listed as 'unknown gender' though. It's about 3.7kgs, I am hoping it's female too, but thought I'd get other opinions first to be sure as I've never seen a female Muscovy quite this big, I've only seen smaller ones about half the size of my eight month old drake and this one is only JUST smaller than him. Sorry for any blurriness!

 

[subhanalah]

Are large muscovy drakes as easy to determine gender as big ganders?

I read here that you can just manipulate the vent and if male, he will "fall out".

But when I look at that bottom picture, I think "duck". Don't take my word for it, I'm basing it off of absolutely nothing but gut feeling lol.

 

[Smartconnect]

Based on the amount of caruncle, I would guess that the bird is old enough to determine sex by size - a drake should be significantly larger and mostly hiss. At 3.7Kg it's most likely a male (and most likely why it's in a shelter)...

 

[SampyArctica]

Oh, it's not just a shelter for surrendered animals - it's also a wildlife hospital and this one came in injured, but has since gotten the all clear from the vets. It's file has also since been updated as 'female', so...I guess we'll find out soon enough anyway, ha.

 

[subhanalah]

What shape is the tail?

 

[SampyArctica]

Nevermind - even though his file has been updated to say he's a girl, he's being kept with one of the other males that's waiting to be adopted while the females are in a separate run. Pretty safe to say he's a boy, he looks and acts so much like the other drake. I thought he must be! I've only owned the one but since starting volunteer work at an animal hospital, I've seen a fair few more and we've never had a female come in that was quite this big. Thanks for the help though, much appreciated.