sexing adults

[suenotto]

Which is more reliable when sexing adults, the voice or the tail? I found a local guy who is willing to sell me some ducks to fill out my male-heavy flock. I do not want to take any more males. Thing is I caught a couple of very nice female looking ducks (no curly tail, a bit on the small side) but they did not quack. They sounded like males to me (Runner ducks, runner crosses). The seller kept saying, this is a hen I'm pretty sure, etc.. But I didn't take them because I wasn't sure. Now he tells me an "expert" stopped by (presumably a friend of his) who says yes, the ducks I'm interested in are females. OK, so I put to you experts, how do you know for sure? Is the quack the definitive test? or do some hens not quack? I really don't know the age, he tells me they were hatched this year but I know he goes to the farm auctions and just brings whatever home.. Thanks guys,
Susie

 

[duckyfromoz]

If they are still young- they may not yet have grown the curl into their tail feathers yet. The quack would be a surer way to tell- having said that- I did own a duck that did loose her voice and had a raspy voice more like that of a male.

What type of ducks are they and what colour? It may be possible to tell from colour as well- as long as they arent white ducks.

 

[CityChicker]

No, the quack test is definitely not definitive, but it is a *very* good indicator. The sex curl doesn't come in on the drakes until they are a few months old and usually the ducks in the group are quacking by then. Between the quack, the tail curl, and color, you can generally get a pretty good idea on sex certainly by the time they are a couple months old. When you catch them, most females will quack, but far from all will. I have raised Runners for several years. Some of my hens are some of the loudest quackers on my property. Others never utter so much as a peep. My guess without counting all my ducks and catching them one by one is that about 10%-15% or so of my Runner hens and about 15%-20% of my bantam duck hens (other than Calls) virtually never quack, even when caught. In my Aussie Spots, probably easily 50% never quack. Not to mention, in several of these breeds, I have several drakes that make an almost quack.

Again, don't get me wrong, quacking is a very good indicator of sex. It just isn't entirely foolproof. Take into consideration all of the gender clues and all combined, you can generally sex them by the time they are several weeks old, sometimes up to a few months old.

 

[sonew123]

Ive always used the curl to tell me as I can't ditinguish the quaks-even listening to my flock of sexed ducks I still cant tell-Im deef as DH tells me!

 

[suenotto]

One of the ducks in question is a chocolate runner the other a mallard mix (has greenish head).

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
I have runners-can you post a photo of the whole duck especially the tail end??

 

[suenotto]

No, I do not have a picture

 

[katharinad]

You can chase my girls around and maybe 2 will quack. What worked well with them while young was grabbing them. It no longer works with them, I guess they have gotten smarter. They are full grown now, so there is no question about it anymore. Sex venting would be the sure way to know.

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
If it's got the mallard coloring and a green head, it's a male.

I would depend on the voice sexing, it's not 100% but it's darn close if you know what you're listening to. Sounds like this guy hasn't a clue and just wants to unload some ducks. Have you tried posting a want "ad" on the Where Am I? Where Are You? thread closest to you?

 

[ChickaBangBang]

What are all the clues and are there pictures to help? I have 2 ducks and they both sound different and one has a light bill/ almost white and the other is very dark yellow. They are about the same size. I have no clue what the tail curl is or what to look for.