Sexing Ducklings Help?

[Katiesduckies]

How do you tell as ducklings if they are males/females?

 

[mnferalkitty]

You really can't until they get older.

 

[Katiesduckies]

okay thank you!

 

[Katiesduckies]

I figured out a way to sex them as babies but you have to do it before they are like 7 days old. You check their bill(s) a dark bill is male and a lighter bill is a female or if it has a lighter bill with dark dot at the end its also female that's one of the common ways they sex the ducks at this place you order ducklings online I think its called Metzers or something like it

 

[PoultryGirly]

Around 2 to 3 weeks of age the duckling will start building up their mature voice. A raspy voice is a male. It sounds like a whisper. A loud, pronounced quack is a female.

 

[Katiesduckies]

Yeah there's that too and then as they mature you can tell by their feathers as well!! Curl on the tail feathers is male no curl is (you guessed it!!) female!!

 

[sherrik9]

Yeah there's that too and then as they mature you can tell by their feathers as well!! Curl on the tail feathers is male no curl is (you guessed it!!) female!!

At what age do they get the curled tail feather. I have some Calls that were born in March and one of them doesn't have the tail curl but he/she sure sounds like a male. Which is more reliable, tail or voice, at this age?

 

[Katiesduckies]

At what age do they get the curled tail feather. I have some Calls that were born in March and one of them doesn't have the tail curl but he/she sure sounds like a male. Which is more reliable, tail or voice, at this age?

Voice comes first!! I figured out that their feathers don't always curl (for one) and (for two) they don't curl until they are adults and can mate

We thought we had a female duck that was really confused because "she" was trying to mate with the other females. Lol one day we watched "her" really close and actually seen HIS "manhood" lol turns out we had a young male and his tail feather wasn't curled yet it has a small curl but nothing like the other males

 

[hfchristy]

I figured out a way to sex them as babies but you have to do it before they are like 7 days old. You check their bill(s) a dark bill is male and a lighter bill is a female or if it has a lighter bill with dark dot at the end its also female that's one of the common ways they sex the ducks at this place you order ducklings online I think its called Metzers or something like it

I think what you're talking about is only for Welsh Harlequins, and even that is becoming less reliable since it's not an official trait of the breed and breeders have focused on other traits at the expense of this one. At least, Holderreads is. In the older version of his book (Storey Guide to Raising Ducks) he said it was 90% accurate, in the current one he says 70%, and someone who called them this week was simply told the method is "no longer accurate."

We hatched 15 Welsh Harlequins about a month ago and marked all the light bills, so I'll be curious to see how much of a correlation we see. So far, there's been at least one quack from a dark bill.

Christy

 

[Ally Rose]

http://www.metzerfarms.com/SexingVideo.cfm?CustID=980766 this video is for day old ducklings. I dont know if it is of any use to you but just so you know for the future if you get day olds or hatch ducks yourself.