Sexing welsh harlequin help?

[prestoconfuoco]

I'm not so sure it's a male. I had the same concern about my WH ducks when they were starting to feather in: they were all supposed to be girls but one of them had a yellow bill and was darker than the others and I was terrified she was actually a boy and I might have to rehome or butcher her (she was also the most dominant). Looking back on the photos from that time, I think she looks similar to yours. I'm attaching a pic, taken when they were 6 weeks old, so you can see what you think - obviously she's the duck on the far left:View attachment 2681836As it turned out, she was definitely a girl, just with a bill that stayed yellow her whole life and darker coloring than my other silver phase Welshie.

Thanks for the input! Do you have any comments on the noises? I really don’t know if they’re male or female noises because they don’t sound entirely like the adult verisons of either.

I got mine from Metzer, vent sexed, so I hope it turns out female — but we will love and keep her either way — unfortunately if either of the layer ducks end up male we might have to rehome them, if this one was male. We’ll have 7 total, 2 adult hens, 2 young ones who are already making quacking noises (4ish weeks), and then these three. Hoping for only one drake out of the whole bunch if we want to keep a drake (1-6 seems like a very healthy/safe ratio). We’ll just have to wait and see!

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

I have WHs from Metzer too. Yours looks like my two drakes, which are now 11 weeks old. At 7 weeks, the girls had fully developed quacks, and knew how to use them.

 

[Dux]

Thanks for the input! Do you have any comments on the noises? I really don’t know if they’re male or female noises because they don’t sound entirely like the adult verisons of either.

I got mine from Metzer, vent sexed, so I hope it turns out female — but we will love and keep her either way — unfortunately if either of the layer ducks end up male we might have to rehome them, if this one was male. We’ll have 7 total, 2 adult hens, 2 young ones who are already making quacking noises (4ish weeks), and then these three. Hoping for only one drake out of the whole bunch if we want to keep a drake (1-6 seems like a very healthy/safe ratio). We’ll just have to wait and see!

You're welcome. No comments on the noises - I'm not experienced enough to know, since I've never heard a young male to have a basis for comparison. Try not to worry too much about it either way - I think it's great that you already have a bit of an idea of what you might do with any extra males. I hope you'll let us know what sex your Welshie ends up being when it grows up!