Sexing Pekins

[zooweemama]

The louder honk noise you hear are the girls. If you listen close you can hear some softer voices that aren't 'honking/quacking'. My son and I sat down when they were 7 weeks with zip ties and just watched and listened. The ones that whispered got tagged with a loose zip tie (it still slips up and down on his leg when he walks so be careful of tightness). So now if they are all together I can look at their feet for the black ring (zip ties) that park my male.

 

[MarieNC]

It took four months for the drake feathers to show up on my two Pekin boys. And they have always had a raspy sort of vocalization.

 

[zooweemama]

Mine 9 week old Pekin, Pip, just started a new high pitch 'pip' sound to his low rasp. Oh my gosh I cannot believe he makes the sound of his name! I can't wait to see their sassy little drake curls!

 

[BarneyChick97]

I know this will sound totally silly, but female ducks make sort of a "RACK RACK RACK!" sound, and drakes do a "mack. mack.".....and it sounds like there is a weak horn in there too.
Females seem to go ON and ON too. Males do a few quiet ones, and seem pretty calm. The cell phone analogy is perfect too.

 

[lynnechrista]

I sold the males today, kind of bittersweet. You could barely here any noise from them the whole car ride, so much different than the girls. Thanks for the tips.

 

[DB_Tex]

RE marking: Dollar Tree stocks a package of zip ties that come in multicolors-- they make GREAT color coded leg bands for poultry.

 

[knightie]

My drake didn't get his drake feather until I was gone (so sometime between 16 & 17 weeks)

 

[Scott Barr]

Help with the sex of these babies ... they were born around March 19, 2012 making them about 18 weeks old. The one we think is the boy (the one to the right in the pic above and in front on the picture below) as that is the one always on top in the pond ... they have been demonstrating mating behavior for about 4 weeks now and we are trying to figure out if they are in fact male and female or just a bit strange ... thoughts? Sorry the image is upside down but it's been one of those days!

 

[hfchristy]

I've got a 2 month old Pekin, too, that I'd really like to figure out the gender of.
When the voices started changing, "hers" sounded like a quack compared to the others, but now sounds raspy and quiet - except when we try to catch her. THEN she can be really loud. Are males capable of quacks when alarmed?
The flock is otherwise Welsh Harlequins and bantam mutts, so I don't have any same-breed ducks to compare to.

Christy

 

[knightie]

Scott I think (stress think since I can hear their quakes) they are both girls. I would think by 19 weeks the drake curl would be there... Mine was but I only have one drake so...

Hfcristy I only have one male and while he gets louder when I pick him up he still sounds totally different from the girls.