sexing muscovies

[bantiesrule]

My sister just bought a dozen muscovies. One you can tell is an older drake but not sure on the others. I don't have any pictures of them (didn't have my camera along) so I'm not sure if anyone can help but can you discribe the difference between young drakes and hens? I won't get back to her place until next weekend, I'll try to remember my camera and get pics then.

 

[Bleenie]

you should be able to tell by their feet after a couple weeks of age, but definitely after they're a month old. The boys have bigger feet. If they are older and feathered in some though, you will notice that the girls have more pointed tails and the boys are wider at the end, more "masculine-looking" lol.

I also noticed that my boys have fatter heads/necks... or maybe I just breed fat heads

 

[emsdial911]

The males will have a more prominent mask, larger, covering most of the face.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Males are larger than the hens by a lot as well.

 

[emsdial911]

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That's the truth, I couldn't believe the size difference. Poor hens.

 

[emsdial911]

Quote:
I noticed your Illness tag. Have you ever heard of "Black Head Disease"? I came across just a mention about this when raising chickens and ducks. It said that it was common in chickens with no issues but could be fatal to ducks.

 

[Captain Carrot]

Take a look at this pic...

The drake is on the left, with the blue markings. His neck, feet, legs, mask and Mohawk (crest on top of the head) is considerably larger, thicker more profound than the ducks (hens).

Also by the calls they make, the ducks will make quite peeping and the drakes hiss like a goose. Grab hold of one and see what noise it makes.

 

[Bleenie]

Waterfowl are common carries of cecal worms but it is pretty rare that they will become infected with blackhead disease. If they do becaome infected though, it is fatal if it's not treated right away. It mainly affects Turkeys, chickens and other gamebirds.

Quote:
I noticed your Illness tag. Have you ever heard of "Black Head Disease"? I came across just a mention about this when raising chickens and ducks. It said that it was common in chickens with no issues but could be fatal to ducks.

 

[bantiesrule]

Thanks all for the replies, I didn't think I'd get much help without pics but I think she might figure it out with all the suggestions you've made.

 

[Goat_Walker]

Not sure how "young" yours are but here is a group of mine at about 4 months old :

Hen head:

Drake head:

Drake and hen head together:

Hen in lower left with drake standing behind her :

WHen you said "young " i wasnt sure if that meant it was harder to tell. Because once scovies hit 6 months old or so its VERY easy to tell males from females. Before then though can be tricky for those who dont have a trained scovie eye, lol, when you dont have the carnucles to look at or have a few of those little buggers that can go either way because they are a larger hen or smaller drake. Hope this helps! Cant wait for pics!