Sexing Indian Runners? Help!

[Molly Sunshine]

Ok so girl, good to know!anyone have any idea how/why that happens?

 

[Belba]

I hate to be blunt, but is there something wrong with the feather? I only ask because I have had 3 full breed Indian Runner males and haven't ran into that issue. What color is the rest of the body? How loud is the quack? Have a good day!

 

[Molly Sunshine]

Only males are supposed to have a"drake" feather. The quack is fairly Loud. It looks and acts like a female I was just confused over the"male"feather

 

[Belba]

That is odd. The feather is usually only one tail feather (the one in the center to be more specific). However, my male had one, but something happened to it, my guess is that the females something because she got mad. Anyhow, I hope this helped.

 

[Molly Sunshine]

Well....I think I maybe heard a different duck quacking because I heard the traditional male sound today and he is getting some green on his head so boy! Question answered...

 

[Belba]

Yay! Good to know he is doing well! It may take a while for the feather to develop. Glad to hear the good news!

 

[Belba]

I think it has something to do with attracting females. 'Wild' (for lack of a better term) mallards are nore colorful and prettier than the females to attract the females. Peacock males shake their tailfeathersbat the females to gain their favorance. So (to me), it would only make sense if the Indian Runner's tailfeathers are used for the same purpose. Hope it helped!

 

[apricotvalleywf]

Not all males show the sex curls, some fall off, etc.. Best to pick up the bird and see if it quacks or look on the Metzer's site for a demo video on sexing Also, depending on their colour variety you can sex by colour rather easily.. This is true for Grey runners, trouts, black, chocolates,etc..

 

[Belba]

Thank you, I didn't know you could sex by color. I did have experience with a male losing his curl... but it grew back. Anyhow, thank you again for the information!

 

[atower2]

My fawn and white runners are approximately 7 weeks old and the females have a definite quack and the drakes whisper and two have curly tails but the other male does not. However I did notice and it may be only the fawn and whites but my quacking girls have freckled bills and the whispering boys all have clear yellow bills at this age I do not know if it continues to adult hood as I am new to runners but at this stage there seems to be a color difference at least bill wise.

Has anyone else noticed this?