Sexing Pekins?

[Strawberryswyrl]

It even looks like a boy in the face, sorry, but I really think you have a little boy! The female Peking has a very high-pitched "QUAAAACK!" after only a month or so, and if yours is as grown as it is and is still peeping with a hollow, raspy voice sometimes than I can assure you it's a he!!! You should get him a female companion! Also, is he mean? Lol, my male is a mean little guy, whereas the female likes to have her beak/bill rubbed. I sexed them wrong at first, thinking the female to be the male since she was the early quacker but then did some research and found out it was the reverse. Oh well, she's stuck with the name "Billy," now spelled "Billie" and the other one who was "Beakie" is now "Raptor" after hearing him that full week leading up to his full drake vocals coming in, sounding like a little dinosaur lol! Also, I must say, in that picture of your Peking his bill is LARGE. That is characteristic of the male versus the female who would have a shorter, less thick bill. So what is the name of your ducky?

 

[Strawberryswyrl]

Here is a link to hear the difference between the male and female quacks. http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/artquacks.htm

 

[DUCKOBSESSED]

I have a black Swedish who I thought was a male for a long time. it is now a year old and sometimes quacks but quietly. there is no drake feather. is it a female?

 

[Strawberryswyrl]

A lot of male ducks are missing their drake feathers. I am not sure why it is exactly, but I think think that either it never develops sometimes or simply gets pulled out. My drake does not have his "drake" feather yet, and I don't know if he ever will. But then, again, I deal with Pekings and not the black Swedish type you have. The quack sexing will likely apply for yours though.

 

[DUCKOBSESSED]

thanks. his head is green but that could just be that he is black and shines in the sun. he has not tried to mate with any of the females yet. I guess I will wait and see. he is as big as my jumbo Pekin

 

[Mini Moe]

We have (2) 15 wk old Pekins that seem to take turns humping each other in their pool but 1 has always had a definate quack and the other kind if a raspier quack. No drake feathers yet. I have a 10 wk old drake Rouen (male feathers) and we can barely hear. Some with our crested/cayuga cross. You can barely hear him, plus its more like Charlie Briwns teacher..wa wa wa.

 

[Strawberryswyrl]

Well that one with the definite "quack" should be the female, and the female can be a bit dominant at this age, until the male is fully developed and starts to take her over. My male was always very passive to the female until he grew larger than her (they were the same size at about 15 weeks and then he got his growth spurt and blew up!) He will have his raspy quack until he starts to screech like a little dinosaur for a week leading up to his drake vocals settling in. I renamed my Peking "Raptor" when he went through this phase because he sounded like a Velocoraptor dinosaur lol. They are 4 1/2 months now but still not sexually mature, although they have been "mating" for a month, now. The male is very aggressive and attacks my feet when I go to feed them sometimes lol.

 

[Strawberryswyrl]

Oh and he just now got his curl feather at 41/2 months.

 

[Mini Moe]

We just figured out that they are 18 wks old today. I hope he's not attacking your feet to hump them. Yikes..!! Right now we have the two 18wk Pekins (hopefully male/female) two 13 wk Rouen pair, one 13 wk female Cayuga, and one 14-15 wk male Cayuga/Crested mix. We have 2 female Welsh Harlequin on order for an Aug 5th hatch date but im worried that after these babies get big enough to introduce them, that we still wont have enough females. They all pretty much get along now, except for Quaky, our female Pekin who runs everyone around the yard. Im I to expect this happy family enviorment to change as soon as the males reach maturity?:/

 

[Strawberryswyrl]

My female just started laying eggs

Her first was a few days ago and was very small, the second was larger and the third was a little larger than the second. I have been bringing the ducks in at night because there is no fencing for them at this time and a raccoon has been coming around, so I have not given my little Billie-Beak the opportunity nor chance to make a nest outside or to gather and sit on the eggs. I have done some research and made a little home-made incubator which stays at 100 degrees but I need to purchase a hygrometer to see what the humidity level is. Humidity should be at 55 degrees I have read. I do not believe, however, that these eggs are fertile, as I have seen my "beakies" mate and have noticed that male, who has been sexually mature for only a week or so now, does not seem to know what he <ahem> is "doing." His aim is very off lol and he doesn't seem to be able to hold onto the female long enough to adjust himself properly. I will "candle" each egg after 3 days of incubation to see if veins are developing and if not then I will toss them. I ended up throwing away the small egg yesterday because even if it was fertile it was too small for the duckling to develop properly. Hopefully my home-made incubator is sufficient enough to even develop the eggs successfully if they are fertile. I am supposed to gather eggs for a little over a week and THEN start to incubate them, and I suppose I will do so at a later time but these last few days I was very excited and wanted to start the process right away. Hopefully Mr. Raptor duck will get better at situating himself on top of his Billie-Beak and produce us a good batch of fertile eggs to incubate. Although he has been mounting her for over a month, now, he has only been sexually mature for a week, as I said, and needs more experience if he is to father a big, healthy batch of little beakies!