Welsh Harlequin ducklings.. gender?

[americana-chick]

Can you tell me what gender my welsh harlequin ducklings are? I think Bean (the darker one) is a drake and Ham (the lighter one) is a girl. Bean is smaller and quieter than ham but if i am correct i have heard that the darker coloring a welsh harlequin duckling has, the more likely they are drakes.
Bean:

Ham:

Other photos:

Thanks!

 

[americana-chick]

Oh and they are about 1 month old.

 

[duckyfromoz]

They are so adorable - I havent had Welsh Harlequins for a few years- But based on my memory- and the colouring Of the Harlequin Runners I now have- I would say you do have a male and female as you think. Being 4 weeks or so old you might start to hear her voice change soon and that will be another indicator of gender.

 

[cbeth95]

Well, its hard to tell when they are that young. And you really cant tell untill they are much older. Usually the females make a loud quack and the males make a low drawn out quack. Its hard to explain! Another way to tell, a males tale feathers will curl up at the end.

Hope this helps!

Happy Easter!

 

[CityChicker]

I agree, it looks like you have a pair. When I had my WH, the bill color started changing at only a few days old, but all of the ducklings that had the darkly shaded heads were indeed drakes and all those that didn't ended up being hens. Of course, this is not always the case with all breeds. It may have just been coincidence (saying that because a lot of my female Snowy Mallards have had very dark heads as juveniles). Anyway, if they are like mine were, you do have a pair.

 

[CorralitosSunflower]

You are correct according to my experience! You should be able to tell gender as day olds by beak color, but one of mine was wrong, turned out the coloring gave their genders correctly. A dark head at this age surely means a drake, the lighter one is a girl. Wohoo, you have a pair!

 

[Wifezilla]

I don't think so. Slate bills = girls at this age. WHen they are babies, girls have pink bills and boys have dark bills.

 

[americana-chick]

Thanks everyone-They both had lighter colored bills when they where day olds and it started to turn darker with each day. IT actually surprised me one day, I went down there and there beaks had changed so much i thought they had gotten into something!

 

[CorralitosSunflower]

Quote:
I know that is how it is supposed to be, out of my four babies I had three with light bills and one with a dark bill indicating three girls and one boy. The bills are supposed to switch to the opposite as the duckling matures, turned out for me that I actually had two and two. One of the babies with a light bill was a boy (his bill looked identical to the other girls) as he got older his coloring was darker, especially on the head and neck just like the other boy. Mine aren't show quality though, got them from metzer so maybe that has something to do with it. It took a LONG time for my girls beaks to get darker and one of them still has a speckled beak. Seemed like there was a long time when the darkening girls beaks and lightening boys beaks came to a place where they looked almost the same as they crossed paths

 

[americana-chick]

Also, are my ducklings old enough to be outside? Thanks!